


Polyergus

by RockyMountainRattlesnake



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Biology, Aliens, BAMF Rose Tyler, Bugs & Insects, Episode Style, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Hive Mind, Mind Control, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological Horror, Slavery, Someone help Nine, Telepathy, alien hive, in an alien way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-02-22 04:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 89,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockyMountainRattlesnake/pseuds/RockyMountainRattlesnake
Summary: When Rose, Nine and Jack answer a distress call from a distant planet, they are captured by a race of aliens who enslave other telepathic species to survive. Will they be able to escape the hive in one piece, or will they end up a meal for the Polyergus brood?Updates Fridays.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 250
Kudos: 141





	1. Polyergus rufescens

_The button was cold under his palm._

_He closed his eyes and pressed it._

_In his brain, he felt it. The moment when their voices- the endless churning sea of voices that had been roiling and seething in the back of his mind since he first opened his eyes and drew his first breath- snapped, shattered, the fear gone, replaced by agony. All his people united, their collective mind joined into a psychic scream that echoed backwards and forwards across all of Time._

_He fell to his knees, and he screamed with them._

_And then it was silent._

_All that was left in the cavern of his mind was a raw, bleeding wound, and the endless echoes of his people’s final scream, reverberating in his head for all eternity._

_He was alone._

_From now to the end of eternity, he would_ always _be_ **alone _._**

* * *

The Doctor bolted awake, gasping for air. Where- where-

Bed. TARDIS. Safe. Alive. War over.

Time asleep?

Two hours, thirteen minutes, five seconds, forty-two milliseconds.

His eyes fell on the spiral galaxy overhead on his ceiling. The TARDIS brightened the room with soft lighting, pressing into his mind and wrapping around him like a psychic hug.

Another nightmare.

He was so tired. He needed to sleep.

But the nightmares.

The nightmares, they never stopped.

He felt the wound in the back of his mind, the hole where the rest of them should be. Anywhere in time and space, he should have been able to feel their chatter, the comforting humming and singing of the Time Lords, all their minds twined into one collective morass. Anywhere and anywhen, always singing, always with him. Even in the Vortex, where no other collective could reach, the hivemind of the Time Lords still sang.

A constant reminder that he was never truly alone.

The Doctor moaned and curled up into a ball, sinking his nails into his scalp.

Telepathic species were never meant to be alone. Humans could manage. A lone human would find themselves a posse of alien friends and have grand adventures (or not, if that wasn’t their thing) and be none the worse for wear. As long as a human had company, a human was fine.

Him?

He wasn’t fine.

His soul ached for the collective mind, ached for it to just be there; a soothing white noise, something to rock him off to sleep, something that he’d always had there in his head.

Something to remind him that no matter what, he was never alone.

The Doctor turned over and closed his eyes, balling up those feelings and stuffing them away.

Silence. Total, oppressive silence.

The TARDIS hummed in his mind, then, doing her best to rock him off to sleep again. She dimmed the lights by way of a hint, but he knew he wasn’t getting back to sleep.

Not a chance in hell.

* * *

The Doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes, craning his neck up to look at the wiring he was adjusting. Another sleepless night, spent the same way most of them were- under the console, fiddling and tinkering. Making repairs to his ship, because anything was better than going back and facing his unending nightmares.

They were parked on a planet with a temporal rift and a thriving club scene, topping up the TARDIS’s fuel supply. Jack and Rose had gone off earlier that day to dance and party and whatever else they did- the Doctor had begged off to make some repairs to the overhead roundels and the time rotor. He’d started joining them occasionally, on these little jaunts- mostly just nursing a pint in the corner and watching Rose dance, enraptured by the way she moved under the flashing lights in time with the heavy club beat.

Sometimes she’d wave to him and he’d stumble towards her, drawn like a sailor to the siren, and they’d sway together, her back pressed to his front-

The Doctor dropped a spanner on his foot and swore to himself. He was getting distracted. Rose was not a conducive muse for TARDIS repair, he’d swiftly found out.

Still. Even if they didn’t have a name for this thing between them, even if she drove him half mad with desire most of the time- she was his and he was hers, and it was all just as simple as that.

Who needed labels for everything, anyway?

Jack’s footsteps echoed off the corridor walls, jerking the Doctor out of his thoughts, and he clambered out of the hole in the grating with a grunt.

The man himself breezed into the room with a stretch and a yawn, grinning evenly and sauntering up to the TARDIS console.

“Mornin’,” Jack said with a grin, “Don’t tell me you spent the whole night with your head under the console.”

“No morning on the TARDIS, Jack. Thought you’d know that by now. And yes, I did. Not my sleep night tonight.” He was lying, not that Jack would know. And Rose wasn’t in the room to give him the side-eye and her pointed glare, so hey. What was a little harmless fibbing between Time Lord and companion?

The Doctor knelt down and shoved the grating back into place with a grunt, standing up and meeting Jack’s eye.

“You shoulda come with us last night. Rose was hoping you’d come,” Jack said with a lazy grin, and the Doctor shrugged.

“I already told you. Club dancin’s not my thing. Too loud, does me head in.” That, and when he danced with Rose, certain parts of his body were more interested than others. Parts that made a noble and dignified exit as befitting a Lord of Time rather, uh, difficult. To say the least.

The Doctor’s ears started to heat up, and he silently redirected the blood flow away. Jack didn’t need to see him blushing.

Jack put his hands up and reclined on the console, smiling easily. The Doctor could see the hickeys down the column of his throat- Jack had clearly had a good night. Probably staggered back in when the Doctor was thrashing about in his bed, trying to sleep-

No. Don’t think about that.

“Good night?” the Doctor asked conversationally, and Jack grinned at him.

“Oh yeah. Met a nice Vex out looking for a good time- nothing like a roll in the hay with a telepath. Mind-blowing…literally. ‘Course, I’m sure Rose would know all about that, hey?” Jack said with a wink, and the Doctor had to reroute his blushing before it gave him away.

Rose’s footsteps tapped down the corridor, mercifully, and his hearts did a little flip. He turned back expectantly, watching his golden girl skip into the console room. In that moment, he decided that now was the time to spring his little surprise on them. He’d been showing them how, and it was high time to see if they remembered what to do.

Rose hopped up to him and greeted him with a peck on the cheek, stepping back and looking at him expectantly.

The Doctor did _not_ blush.

“So! Where are we going today, Doctor?” Rose chirped, and Jack turned to face him, looking expectant.

The Doctor smiled, stroking his chin.

“No alerts today, so I suppose we could go…ah! How about Poverty Rock, on Asanaipi? Swaying grasslands all around, beautiful skies…and a fantastic old boulder by a lovely warm river. It’s a brilliant place for a picnic.”

Jack and Rose nodded, and the Doctor- to their surprise, stepped back from the controls.

“Oh,” Rose said, biting her thumbnail, “You- you want US, to-?”

“Now?” Jack said nervously, “Right now?”

“Yep!” the Doctor said with a smile, “I did say I might spring the exam on you at any time. You’re both fed and rested- how you lot get anything done in those needy little bodies of yours, I’ll never know- so you should be fine to show me a takeoff.”

He folded his arms and leaned back against the railing, looking expectant.

“O…kay…” Rose said nervously, “You sure?”

The Doctor gestured at the controls. “Perfectly sure. Nobody’s calling for help, we’re not in a hurry. I’ve shown you how to do it, now let’s see if you’ve been paying attention. Go on!”

Rose and Jack shared a look, and both nodded.

They both moved into positions opposite each other around the console, Rose taking up residence in front of a bank of settings and Jack handling the navigation panel.

“Alright, um, well,” Rose started nervously, “First I’ve got to make sure the exterior shields are properly in place, like so…blue, then red, then the bell…” she said as she adjusted the knobs in question.

Jack meanwhile was fiddling with the keyboard, punching in the navigation code the Doctor had made him memorize. When the Doctor himself flew the TARDIS, because he was symbiotically and telepathically bound to her, she punched in the proper code automatically. Jack- lacking that connection and not being a Time Lord- had to do it manually. Normally the codes were tailored for each individual takeoff, but this particular code was a “999” of sorts; taking the TARDIS to a place in the vortex that was always safe and stable. The “Emergency takeoff” code, which made transit _from_ easy and transit _to_ much longer.

Jack bit his lip, muttering the code out loud as he punched in each character and flipping a little toggle beside him to check. The Doctor had installed that switch just for his companions- when held down, it displayed the codes in a more standard language format, not just circular Gallifreyan. That was essential for a human trying to fly the TARDIS manually- so they could check to ensure they’d gotten the very long code right.

Rose meanwhile was still narrating her way through her end of her assigned preflight checks- a habit that the Doctor found rather amusing, though he wasn’t about to tell her.

“So, um- then I’ve got to get a lock on a crack between one instant and the next, and you do that by fiddling with this diaaaaal, like thaaaaaat…” she twiddled it, looking up at the Doctor nervously for guidance.

He nodded, and gestured for her to continue. Confidence bolstered, Rose leaned forwards to start adjusting the transtemporal exterior dimension switches.

“Alright, code’s punched in!” Jack called, “Right, then I, uh- shit. What do I do-?”

“The pump!” Rose yelled, “You use the pump, and I use the levers and toggle-“

“Right, yeah, yeah-“

The Doctor watched this all with pride. Normally when he flew, the TARDIS did a lot of this busy-work herself; largely because he was her symbiote, the Time Lord to which she was bonded. Telepathic communication between pilot and TARDIS made a lot of this stumbling and fumbling unnecessary. His human companions sadly had no such automation to help them, and had to do it all manually.

They were doing fantastic.

Jack pumped the compressor switch a few times, and Rose lunged for the dematerialization lever, flipping it down with some force.

The Doctor grunted and grabbed onto the railing as the floor pitched out from under him with a violent juddering. The ship groaned and wheezed, the time rotor protesting as they bucked into the Vortex. He could feel the TARDIS’s malcontent humming in the back of his mind, and he chuckled and patted the floor. He’d let some of his strays take the saddle, and she didn’t appreciate their nerves.

The entire ship spun in wild circles, gravity shifting around- Jack fell on his ass as gravity flipped to the floor, and then went flying into one of the coral struts, bouncing off and landing on the railing with a groan. Rose was dangling sideways from the lever for a few seconds, slamming knees-first into the floor, frantically looking at the Doctor for guidance.

“DOCTOR!” she yelled, “HELP!”

“ARTIFICIAL HORIZON!” he yelled, “BLACK HANDLE!”

“RIGHT, GOT IT!” Rose lunged for the lever, climbing the console as gravity pitched around again, and the Doctor couldn’t help but cackle with glee. This was the most fun takeoff he’d had in a century, EASILY.

Rose yanked the lever, and instantly flight stabilized- Jack was tangled in the railing and Rose hit the console chest-first.

The Doctor beamed, striding over to get Jack untied from the black bars. He checked the defrocked captain over quickly- nothing was broken, and Jack grunted and stretched the aches out of his bones.

“That was bloody brilliant! You two should see yourselves. A few more takeoffs and I can put me feet up and have some tea!” the Doctor said with glee, striding away from the definitely-okay Jack and towards his Rose. She hadn’t gotten tossed around so much- but he could hardly blame her, the artificial horizon was a tricksy little fucker.

Rose groaned from the floor, levering herself into a sitting position.

“F’ it’s all the same to you, Doctor,” she groaned, “And I can’t _believe_ I’m saying this, but I think I’ll let you do the day-to-day flyin’. You’re smoother than us.”

“Yeah, no shit. Fuck. Didn’t think the TARDIS could DO somersaults, but here we are,” Jack grunted, rubbing his shoulder.

The Doctor snorted and waved his hand. “You’re learning! Always happens with a new ship, yeah? You’ll get better, just give it time. And you’re human, both of you- that’s a lot of manual busy-work you’ve got to do, just to fly the TARDIS.”

Rose stood up and staggered over to him, and the Doctor pulled her in for a hug. A tight squeeze and a pat on the back- his hearts thumped with pride for her. For both of them, really.

“To think, just a few weeks ago you were scared to even touch a switch on the console!” He said, “You’ve both come miles.”

He stepped up to the monitor to check that they were in stable flight, and yep- the vortex, everything as it should be. Not quite perfect, and he tweaked a few things- the TARDIS’s hum loosening in relief as he did. There.

He started to walk around the console, setting dials and pulling switches to take them to Poverty Rock, a nice little place in the Andromeda galaxy. As he did so, Rose hopped up on the jumpseat, watching him with interest. The Doctor met her gaze and beamed.

“Learning takeoff’s the first step,” he said, “You get good at takeoffs, you’ve mastered the hard part. Landing’s piss-easy- anyone can do a landin’. You’ll both get better with practice.” He said, eyes gleaming with pride.

He wasn’t sure if Rose and Jack would have access to the TARDIS’s flight computer, or if they’d have to learn all the location codes manually and punch them in by hand- most likely the latter, them being humans and all that. His plan was to teach them both a code for “home”- the Powell estate for Rose, and wherever Jack wanted to go for him- and then make them both memorize that code so they could go somewhere safe if something happened to him. So they wouldn’t be stranded a billion years in the future on an airless asteroid in case the worst happened to him.

And of course, there was always Emergency Program One if something happened before those lessons could be given.

He started fiddling with the monitor, reaching out with his mind and entwining himself with the mind of his ship. She sang a few notes across their telepathic bond; he sang a few right back. Flying a TARDIS was a duet, in most cases; for a Type 40, it was _supposed_ to be a choir of seven.

“Supposed to be” wasn’t something the Doctor had ever been very good at.

She was already selecting his destination, punching in the proper coordinates (or so she _claimed-_ a real liar, his TARDIS was) and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Jack checking something in one of the roundels. A flash of silver- ah.

He was charging his blasters, then.

The Doctor’s musings and pride-filled considerations were interrupted by an alarm blaring on the console. He stomped around to the monitor, eyes landing on the mauve filling the screen, and his hearts lurched.

“Picnic’s cancelled, sorry. We’ve got an alert.” He pressed a few switches to lock the TARDIS onto the signal, yanking a lever to pitch them out of the vortex.

“Where are we going?!” Rose yelled as they tumbled- gravity was shifting, but largely under their feet, wobbling left and right but never on the walls or the ceiling.

Experience was very useful.

“Don’t know!” the Doctor yelled, “Hold on to somethin’!”

He raced around the console, yanking more levers, and away from the screen- and as the TARDIS tumbled through the void, the words of the message faded onto the screen.


	2. Formica clara

The Doctor yanked a lever to pull them out of the vortex and back into realspace. He steered his craft with a laugh, joy lighting up his face as he wrestled with controls and bashed buttons with his hammer, punching the little hotel bell and slamming a switch to stabilize. They rocked and juddered to a halt, the TARDIS landing with a THUD, and he looked up with a big grin.

To find his two human companions sprawled on the grating, groaning and on opposite sides of the room.

“Jeez, Doc. Maybe we ARE better at this than you…” Jack groaned, picking himself up off the floor.

The Doctor rolled his eye. “Time eddies, happens sometimes when a lot of timelines are in flux. We must’ve hit one. Not even I can compensate for that. Anyway…” he checked the monitor, pulling up the distress call’s message, and frowning at it.

“We are the last. We are trapped on this dwindling world. Our young are starving. Our future is fading. Help us…” he read, raising an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Maybe they’re stuck on this planet?” Rose suggested, “’Trapped on this dwindling world’- maybe their ship’s broken?”

The Doctor beamed at her, pulling her in for a shoulder- hug.

“Not a bad theory. Hopefully that’s the case- I could fix a ship in my sleep. Now then, what planet are they stuck on, exactly?”

The console beeped, and the Doctor hit a switch- the monitor flashed up the TARDIS scans of the planet, and he frowned.

“…Cordycepa. I’ve been here before. Lush place, lots of trees- and we’re on their northern continent, so it’ll just be one big rainforest out there. I hope nothing’s happened to the Ophio, they’re such a lovely species…though why they’d be _trapped_ on their _homeworld_ is…strange.” the Doctor said, scanning over the information on the screen.

“Ophio? What, the little green blobby guys?” Jack grunted, stretching out his injured muscles,

“Yeah, they’re the ones. Lovely lot. Hope it’s nothing too serious…” the Doctor’s voice trailed off, eyes narrowing in confusion as he looked at the screen.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Rose leaned on him, squinting at the screen, even if she couldn’t read the swirling circles on it.

“Says the atmospheric oxygen level is…Twenty percent. That’s…low. For this world. Typically it’s at least twenty-five…” he looked at something else, and his frown deepened.

“Is it not safe to breathe?” Jack asked, biting his lip. That was the reason for these little round-the-monitor pre-adventure powwows- the Doctor had to check if the planet they’d landed on was one where they could breathe the air or not.

“No, it’s plenty safe, especially for you two. These readings just…don’t make any sense. Last time I was here, the atmospheric oxygen was up at 25%...and the methane’s up, and so’s the carbon dioxide…”

“You think they started the industrial revolution or somethin’?” Rose asked, folding her arms.

The Doctor shook his head and straightened, smoothing out the lines of his jacket.

“Not for the Ophio. Their tech’s all living. They use their telepathic connection with the trees an’ plants to get plants to do what they want. Brilliant system, very ecologically sensitive. It just doesn’t make sense, unless there’s been a big die-off of their trees for some reason…”

“Maybe that’s why they called?” Jack asked, and the Doctor shrugged. It WAS a good theory, he’d give Jack credit for that.

“Anyway, I’ve had enough standing around. Let’s go!” Rose said, skipping towards the TARDIS doors and pushing them open.

She stepped out and walked back in a second later.

“Doctor?” she said, “You did say this place was…lush, right? Full of trees, like a rainforest?”

The Doctor frowned and walked down the ramp, raising an eyebrow. “I did, yeah. Why?”

Rose glanced back outside.

“S’just that this looks a bit more like the Sahara than the Amazon,” she said after a moment’s pause.

The Doctor marched out the TARDIS doors and stopped dead in his tracks spinning around to take in the sights.

The ground was dry and dusty, bare rock and barren earth all around. Winds whipped up dust devils, the ashy rock flying into eyes and faces. Not a tree, not a shrub, not a plant grew on the face of this barren world; the desolation was total. The clouds were an ashy grey, and some sand flew in his face with the wind; he coughed and spat it out, blinking back tears.

“What the…?” the Doctor said, eyes wide, “It’s only been a thousand years in their time-“

He spun around, looking for some hint of the towering Coniferata trees, the bat-monkeys that flapped and chattered in the morning sun. The blue-petaled Queben flowers that put the buzzing hummingbears to sleep-

A few kilometers away, a mountain rose out of the landscape. It was twisted and furrowed like a pillar of salt that had been cut from the rain, and paths wound away from its base in all directions. Specks that looked like people walked around these trails, up the paths winding their way up the mountain- into the giant arching holes carved into its side, from which a sickly yellow glow issued. The mountain was glowing from the inside, like a city made of stone and mud.

“…It looks like a big…one of them big African termite mounds, you know?” Rose mused, having stepped up to stand next to the Doctor, “Like one of them but MASSIVE, and with electricity…”

The Doctor swallowed, and nodded.

Rose shivered, and ducked back into the TARDIS to grab a sweater; the air was cold with the whipping winds and no trees to stop it, and the sunlight was blocked by the black clouds that covered the sky. The air smelled foul, like coal smoke and ash- though that was easily explained by the top of the mountain belching clouds of noxious smoke into the heavens, like it was pretending to be a volcano.

Jack walked up beside him, checking his blasters and doing up his Captain’s jacket.

“We goin’ in there?”

The Doctor nodded. “I assume so. This is where that signal’s coming from…Although I’m not sure if we got here in time…” he looked around again at the endless flat empty desert sprawling away in all directions, then back at the mottled red-brown mountain rising from the landscape.

Rose stepped out again in a sweater she’d last worn for a visit back to London, frowning as something in her pocket jingled. She pulled a two-pound coin and a few pence, and stuffed them in her jeans pocket, then walked up to stand beside the Doctor.

He took a step back and locked up the TARDIS, turning around to tell them that it was time to get a move-on-

“Uh, hello?” Jack called, “Doc, we got company!”

The Doctor rushed over to join his companions as an alien crested the hill, looking at them with vacant, glazed-over eyes.

“An Ood…?” Jack wondered aloud, as the Doctor stepped up and smiled.

“Hello!” he said, “Are you the one who sent up the distress call?”

The Ood blinked at him again, and raised her arms to level a blaster at the three of them.

“Now, hold on a minute!” the Doctor protested, putting his hands up, “Look, you’re a long way from home, this place isn’t cold enough for you. I can help! Just put the gun down an’ tell me what it is you want. Nobody gets hurt. Sound good?” he said, an even calm in his voice that steadied Rose and Jack.

“You will come with us.” The Ood intoned, and as she said that, four other aliens crested the small hill, all armed and all staring at them with strangely blank expressions.

Jack’s eyes flicked between the aliens. Another Ood, also carrying a gun. A Pykeen, and then that was a Tauran…

“Doc,” he whispered, “They’re all-“

“I know.” The Doctor rumbled, sizing up the three species and noting the only through line between them all.

“You will come with us,” they repeated, “You will join us.”

“Join what, exactly?” the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes, “Would like t’know before I go throwin’ myself into a meat grinder, yeah? Any chance you could tell us what you need?”

The Ood stared at him.

“You will join us.” She repeated, and the Doctor’s eyes went wide as her finger curled over the trigger-

A bright flash of light hit him just as he’d yelled at Rose and Jack to run, just as he’d turned around to leg it back into his ship- the light hit him in the back, and he sank to the ground, muscles seizing up as he tumbled into the sand. His limbs felt like they were filling up with sand, barely enough strength in his arms to catch himself before he cracked his skull on a rock.

“Rose-“ he grunted, the world starting to spin and fade around him. Every blink bit at the world, chunks of blackness devouring his field of view until it had all narrowed to a tiny white pinprick in the distance-

A hand planted itself on his back, and the Doctor knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm back! With another fic that's going to be a long'un. This one's been knocking around in my head since last November- and I'm very excited to share it at last! 
> 
> Depending on the response, I may also occasionally update on Mondays- depends on the backlog. 
> 
> Liked it? Hated it? Let me know your thoughts. Comments are fanfic fuel, and I love them all!


	3. Polyergus bicolor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor wakes up in an unpleasant place...

The Doctor awoke with a start, eyes snapping open and rolling around, panic in his eyes as he desperately tried to get his bearings.

Time sense? Online, not scrambled. Good. Time unconscious? Twenty minutes, fourteen seconds, thirty-seven nanoseconds.

He sniffed the air, and tangled in the cocktail of pollutants and ash and dust, there was Rose’s perfume and Jack’s shampoo, so they were with him-

The thing he was lying on was rocking slightly, like a ship in the sea, and he sat up and tried to move his arms.

The Doctor stared at the steel thing he was sitting on, realizing swiftly that they were in an open-topped metal cart with four walls around them, each just slightly too high for him to see over from a sitting position. Rose and Jack were lying nearby, unconscious but still breathing and looking none the worse for wear. Rose groaned in her sleep, and he reached out to help her-

A jingling, and his hand stopped short, eyes falling to his wrists. 

They were manacled in the front with simple iron cuffs, with a chain connecting the cuffs to the wall of the cart. The Doctor snorted and rolled his eyes. Idiots. His arms were in front, and so was his sonic screwdriver. This would be a three-second job, once the guards had their backs turned.

Speaking of guards, there didn’t seem to be a carriage driver. Who was directing the animals pulling it? This transport certainly wasn’t motorized…

He stood up, rising well over the steel wall so he could look over the front of the transport. His hearts seized as the mountain loomed above them. This close it was obviously artificial, interlaced cut stone, hammered mud, stolen brick. Rock and dust and ash and coal soot covered its flanks, a visible trail snaking up the side to one of the glowing cave mouths.

Then his eyes fell on what was pulling it.

The Ood that had captured them, plus the other aliens, were all clinging to handgrips and pulling the cart like _beasts of burden._ What- WHAT-

Taurans- Ood- they were all _intelligent species_ , and, and-

They were reduced to being _beasts of burden._

_Who had done this?!_

Was this some deranged cult? Py’keen didn’t like manual labour, or at least the ones he’d met hated it- their whole civilization was built on the backs of robotic labour, so why was this one…?

The Doctor ground his teeth and looked back, swaying unsteadily as the cart started up the mountain’s incline. He’d have to sit down, soon, before he fell over; his work boots weren’t providing much grip on the filthy, dust-covered steel.

His eyes went wide in shock, and he looked around, automatically fumbling for his sonic-

His TARDIS poked out above the metal of a cart behind them, four other aliens pulling it up the mountain slope in a similar fashion. His eyes flicked to the light on top- it was barely illuminated. Oh, she was not happy about this…

They’d captured him, his humans, and his ship. So who- who had done this to these people? Who had built this mountain, what had they done to this beautiful world…?

Jack and Rose stumbled back into the waking world with a groan, and the Doctor sat back down, sliding across the dusty cart floor to grab Rose’s shoulder, his chains rattling as he went. He was on his knees above her, hearts hammering. What had that blaster been? Tirullian knockout? Seemed like it- it should be harmless to humans, but-

“Rose, Rose,” he said, “Please, come on, please wake up-“

She sat up slowly with another protracted moan, eyes falling on the manacles as she lifted her arms up. Then swayed over and let her head thunk against his chest, between his hearts; her shoulder was digging into the top of his abdomen, and she was blinking in confusion.

“I didn’t even do anything this time,” she muttered, “An’ we’re already arrested…”

“Don’t think it’s an arrest,” he said, lifting his bound hands up and over her shoulder and giving her a hug as best he could with the chains. He pulled away carefully, crawling over to make sure Jack was alright.

The former time agent was sitting up with his back to the back wall of the cart, groaning and blinking his eyes to try and clear the fog. Whatever that beam had done, it did a fair number on humans and not so much on Time Lords.

Superior biology for you.

“What the fuck happened?” Jack croaked, rubbing his head, “Usually we at least get the hellos over before we break some stupid law an’ get tossed in the clink, so…”

“We’re not being arrested,” the Doctor said grimly, getting back to his knees to check how far they were from the glowing cave mouth to the heart of the mountain.

Jack knelt up too, still swaying and uncomfortable- whatever that beam had done, it had scrambled the brains of his two human companions.

The Doctor swallowed.

Then his eyes fell on an alien stalking the outside of the mountain, and he gasped.

Jack took a second to follow, but once he’d seen it, his eyes went wide and he stiffened.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Rose had stood up behind them, swaying on her knees unsteadily and falling into the Doctor’s side to keep her head up. She saw the reddish-orange alien, and frowned.

“What the hell is that?”

It was built like an insectoid centaur, with a curved, tapered head and wicked mandibles. Four beady black eyes blinked at them, its long antennae twitching in the breeze. It stood upright, with four long arms down the sides of its chest-segment, tipped with delicate-looking hands- delicate hands with razor-sharp claws on every finger. Its lower half was held up by four long segmented limbs attached to the midbody, with thin connections between the chest segment and the abdomen and tail. On the end it had a large gaster with spikes at the tip, like a pointed grape with the end of a toothpick through it. The alien’s exoskeleton looked thick like plate armour- like it could shrug off bullets and knife blows without a second thought.

It was clutching a gun-type weapon of some sort, and as it looked at them, its antennae twitched.

The Doctor groaned and sank back down. His back hit the side of the transport.

Well. That explained what had happened to the Ophio. He was too late.

“What is that thing?” Rose asked, concern in her eyes.

“Polyergus,” the Doctor spat, “Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better…”

“Why, though? What’re Polyergus?” Rose asked, blinking some dust out of her eyes.

“I don’t even know where to start,” the Doctor muttered, “They’re a colonial species, like ants back on Earth; queen to lay the eggs, workers with specialized jobs, that kind of thing. ‘Cept, instead of pheromones, this lot… they’re strongly telepathic with a hivemind that connects all individuals. Thing is, they’re USELESS. At EVERYTHING. They can’t make hives of their own. They can’t gather food. They can’t care for their brood…they won’t even EAT unless somethin’ else shoves food in their face for them.” he sighed and rubbed at his face.

“So…how are they still alive?” Rose asked, face furrowing, “’F they can’t do anything, how’s this big mountain here? How come they don’t starve…?”

“Because,” the Doctor groaned, letting his head thunk back against the metal, “They’re slavemakers. They take slaves from other races, an’ their slaves do all the work. The only things that Polyergus are good at are taking slaves- oh, they’re BRILLIANT at that- and making those slaves obey them without question.”

Rose looked at him in horror, a shiver of fear running through her body.

“Are they gonna…?” she started, biting her lip and looking around, “Can we leg it back to the TARDIS-?”

“Not yet. Not without getting shot.” The Doctor said, “And…no. We three, we’ll all be fine. This isn’t my first tangle with this lot.”

Jack piped up. “They can only enslave telepathic species, right? So Rosie and I are safe?”

“Yep. Exactly that, Jack. They need species that can connect mind-to-mind in order to make them slaves. You humans are a real thorn in their side-almost all of you aren’t telepathic, and you crossbreed with all their favourite slave species. Which does a number on a few different collective minds, not that you care much…”

At the mention of collective minds, his shoulders slumped a little. No. Now…now was not the time for that.

The Doctor balled up those feelings and jammed them somewhere far away, ignoring the ache in his mind. He’d been fine before, and he’d be fine now.

“Doctor,” Rose said quietly, looking him in the eyes, “ _You’re_ telepathic.”

He gave her a grin, then, something not entirely spontaneous, and lifted up his cuffed hands, wiggling his fingers emphatically.

“Yep! Not the kind they need, though. Touch telepath, me. Can’t pull me into their hivemind, I’d need to be touching one of them for that to happen, an’ even then I’d have to let them in. Like I said, not the first time I’ve dealt with Polyergus.”

He tactfully neglected to mention that this was the first time he’d been captured by them, and certainly the first time being taken into their hive. Last time around, he’d just evacuated everyone and left the planet in a swirl of his multicoloured coat.

Rose and Jack nodded, both visibly deflating in relief.

“So we’re all safe?” Rose confirmed, “All of us? Not gonna get enslaved by a bunch of evil alien ants?”

“Safe, yeah. I mean, safe from bein’ inducted into their hivemind an’ servin’ them until we drop dead from exhaustion, so that’s pretty safe. Not sure what they want with us, but…I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Great,” Rose muttered, rubbing her forehead.

The cart levelled off the incline, and the three of them got up on their knees to look out.

The entrance to the hive was full of more Polyergus standing guard, clutching weapons and watching them. The cart rumbled into the cave, and they were suddenly on a downhill slope. Rough walls strung with ugly, flickering yellow lamps lined the rough-walled ceiling, held up with steel joists bolted together with rusty fastenings and rockrete mix to patch the gaps. It was like a human construction crew had decided to replicate an organic look in metal and stone. Around them, Polyergus workers and aliens walked to and fro, branching side paths forking off the main tunnel into dark channels, deeper into the heart of the mountain. The main tunnel was well-lit; the side branches, not so much.

The whole hive was pervaded with the gritty scent of grasshoppers and crickets, a smell like dirt and wax and insect dung. Water dripped from the ceiling in places, and the stench of rot and filth came up through some of the side passages.

The Doctor got up on his knees and looked up, swallowing at a V intersection ahead. Their cart veered off down a path that was dimly lit; his TARDIS trundled down a second path. The Time Lord watched it go with a shiver, biting his lip and doing his best not to call out for her in his mind.

She’d gone very, very quiet over their connection. She probably knew, his brilliant ship. She knew the Polyergus hivemind was all around them.

He could feel it, faintly, like a prickle on the edges of his thoughts; like the cold that seeped through a closed window on a snowy day. An awareness of the masses beyond his mind.

He shuddered.

They trundled down the path, farther and farther from his precious ship, the lights getting father and farther apart; the gloom was all-consuming, until they reached a large open room, and Rose gasped.

They were all up on their knees to see why the light had gone all warm and bright, a soft orange permeating the rough-walled chamber- and there on the smooth dirt floor, lay hundreds and hundreds of oblong white shapes. Each one was the size of a human being- like mummies wrapped in so many layers of silk that they resembled white sausages. Every single one had a black pellet at the base, like a dot on the white silk. All around them, alien species of all shapes and sizes scurried about, carrying the cocoons, moving them around, brushing them off. Some of the cocoons were twitching- the aliens scrambled to move these to the outer edges of the pile. 

And yet, the number of aliens tending the brood was far, far fewer than the number of writhing cocoons in their care.

A single Polyergus ambled in, looking around disinterestedly. Its antennae were waving as it took in the brood, wandering over and crawling up the pile, getting in the way of the other aliens trying to tend to the nest.

The cart trundled past the nursery, and down another short hallway- though this one was pitch-dark. Noises and lights flickered by, as though these tunnels were interconnected with others- and a light in the distance grew in brightness until they rolled into another vast chamber.

In this one, tiny white eggs the size of small dogs were being tended by a dozen aliens; they scrambled around the massive pile, too few of them for all the eggs sprawling out across the floor. In the middle of the room, a large metal pitcher stood; the size of a bed for two, with high steel walls and viscous greenish fluid running down the sides. Something inside the cup thrashed a little, and one of the workers ran up some metal steps to lean over the edge and check on what was inside.

“What the hell is that?!” Rose hissed, and the Doctor shrugged.

“I…I don’t know.” He whispered. Last time he’d dealt with Polyergus, he hadn’t been dragged into the hive. The inner workings of this place were just as much of a mystery to him as they were to Rose. They all sank back down as the cart rattled back into darkness, silence falling on their little party.

Another short tunnel, and finally they pulled to a stop- in a large room that smelled like death passed over twice. A faint scent of faded hemoglobin that had Rose looking at the Doctor fearfully- and his nose was picking up other types of blood.

“Doctor,” Rose said quietly, “If the Polyergus are so good at taking slaves…why’d they send this lot to get us, instead of taking us themselves?”

The back of the cart clanked down, the aliens who’d been pulling it stepping up it like a ramp. The Ood levelled her weapon at them, and the Doctor swallowed.

Beyond the end of the ramp he could see a circular room with another large exit off to the side, and a dozen of the same crude carts arranged in neat rows.

“Ah, well,” he said, trying to put on a cheerful and relaxed sort of tone, “That’d be because, well, the slaves do all the actual _work_ in the colony. Usual stuff, you know; maintenance, building, tending the brood. Oh, and food gathering. I figure when they saw us, they saw three humans. Humans aren’t good for slaves, so, instead of callin’ for soldiers, they…decided to gather us. Because, we’re, ah, food.” He grinned weakly.

Rose’s eyes went wide.

“Well, fuck.” Jack muttered, and the Doctor silently agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update a bit early, to make sure this fic gets off the ground with some rapidity. I have a substantial backlog built up, but because this semester's a bit wonky I'm not gonna blow it all at once this time. 
> 
> Anyway, now you know what the title's banging on about. I'm super bad and uncreative with names, lol. I want it to be known that I have done a truly soul-crushing amount of research for this fic. That, and the Polyergus are based on a number of real-world eusocial insect species, with a single genus providing the lion's share of the inspiration. So yeah! Hopefully that'll provide a setting that's a bit different.
> 
> Additionally, if there's any interest, I do have a shoddy drawing of a Polyergus worker somewhere if anyone would like to see it. 
> 
> Any bits you loved or hated? Thoughts or theories for where this is gonna go? Let me know your thoughts with a comment. Your words fuel this fire!


	4. Formica subaenescens

The Ood and the three other aliens herded them into a strangely-shaped cell. The second all three were inside, the Ood slammed the barred door shut behind them. She locked it up tight and slid a bar down across the entrance, sealing them inside. The Doctor narrowed his eyes, already reaching for his sonic- only for the glassy-eyed alien to flip a switch on the wall. The door glowed blue for a moment and hummed, and the Doctor’s hearts sank. 

He sighed and took a look around their little holding pen.

The cell was roughly oval-shaped, with furrowed walls in an odd, lumpy manner. The cell door was strangely straight and square, not matching with the rest of the cell at all. There was a pipe poking out of the wall with a rusty valve on it, and from the end of it dripped a stream of yellowish water. Below that, a drain in the floor. Along the far wall was a small bench, the only creature comfort provided; it was on a hinge, hanging from two chains at an angle to the wall. Something to sleep on, perhaps, but barely big enough for Rose to curl up on by herself.

“Blimey,” Rose muttered, rubbing her hands and looking around, “If I’d’ve known travellin’ with you was just gonna be a tour of all the universe’s shittiest prison cells, I might not have run back quite so quickly…”

The Doctor looked at her, hurt flashing in his eyes for a moment, and Rose grinned and gave him a gentle swat on the shoulder.

“I’m just kidding, Doctor. You want to sonic the door yet?”

He ambled over to the door and scanned it, groaning. Just as he’d suspected.

“Deadlock-sealed?” Rose asked, and the Doctor nodded.

He turned away and started to pace, mulling the problem of their escape over. Whoever had sent the distress call… well, it was probably the Polyergus themselves, to lure in wayward spacecraft. Responding to the call had slid off the priority list in favour of making sure they didn’t get eaten. They needed a plan, and they needed it soon.

“Sure wish there was a way to call the TARDIS to us…” Rose muttered, “Would be nice if we could just vworp it into our cell…”

“There’s a way to do that. I just didn’t make a DVD, so…not really an option at the moment.” The Doctor muttered, still thinking. Running like hell was a good option, but could they run faster than a horde of enslaved aliens and Polyergus? Without getting shot by knockout weapons, or just shot in general?

Rose sat back on the plank of a bench, kicking her legs and staring at the ground.

“So…What’re we gonna do about the slaves? We’re gonna free them all, right?”

The Doctor’s shoulders slumped.

“No.” he said flatly, “We can’t.”

“Wha- why?!” Rose spluttered, “What’s the point of us being here if we’re not going to set ‘em all free? We can’t just leave them!”

“We can, and we will, because we have to. Because, Rose, there isn’t any way for us to, as you say, “free them.” We _can’t_. Once a telepath is pulled into the Polyergus hivemind, pulling them out again is…we’d need to kill the whole hive. We’d need to kill the queen, we’d need to kill all the workers. I suppose we could get them out of range, but it’s…it’s downright dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?!” Rose spat, “How’s it bloody dangerous if we’re trying to fucking free them? And what’s all this about getting them out of range? Why can’t we do that?”

The Doctor sighed and walked over, sitting on the bench beside her and staring at the floor.

“We could put some of them in the TARDIS and take them into the Vortex. That would cut off their connection. No hivemind in the universe can maintain a link in the Vortex, except…” his voice petered out, and he swallowed.

Except, of course, the Time Lords.

The Doctor shook his head and focused back on the task at hand.

“So? Why don’t we just do that? Even if we only free a few of them, it’s better than letting these bloody bugs work them to death!” Rose said indignantly- the Doctor could see the compassion burning in her eyes. A human being seeing slaves, and deciding that they needed to be freed- at any cost.

“Because if we do that, they’ll probably go mad on the spot, Rose.” The Doctor said flatly, “Because they become so integrated in the hivemind that pulling them out of it is like if I were to tear one of your arms off. That’s why.”

He leaned forward, staring intently at the floor.

Because pulling a slave out of the hivemind would mean subjecting them to the same pain he himself had felt- and _still_ felt. The final psychic scream of his people still echoed back and forth across all of time, ringing through the empty cavern in the back of his head. Where all their voices should have been, chattering away in an endless hum. 

Being pulled away from all that felt like being dismembered- and the Doctor couldn’t do that to another sentient being. Better to leave them here. Let them stay connected…and more importantly, keep their masters from dying on the spot.

“That’s…I mean…” Rose was spluttering, still grasping at straws. She still had a defiant spark in her eye- the Doctor knew that look well.

The _“come on, it’s not THAT BAD”_ look. He knew what she was thinking _\- how could the pain of being pulled away from the hivemind possibly be worse than spending the rest of your life a slave?_ Her human mind was running the numbers- _a brief agony had to be better than a lifetime of servitude, surely?_ And how could he argue with that? How could he convince her about the importance of senses she’d never had, bring across the pain and agony and therapy that might be needed to get them back to any state approaching normal?

The Doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes. Humans. Humans didn’t, and couldn’t, ever hope to understand.

“If we took their slaves away, the Polyergus would all die.” He said flatly, “I wasn’t kidding earlier- if you lock a Polyergus alone in a room with ample food and water, it’ll starve to death. They can’t even feed themselves without a slave shoving food in their faces, Rose. If we free all their slaves, they’ll die.”

Rose huffed, looking at the floor.

“The Doc’s right, sadly.” Jack said with a sigh. He’d taken to leaning on the bars of the cell, arms folded- glancing up occasionally to see if anyone was coming.

Rose muttered something profane and buried her face in the Doctor’s shoulder, sighing mightily.

“I know it sucks, but…sometimes, the universe is just a shitty place.” Jack sighed, “And from what the Doc’s just said, the Polyergus are pretty much the poster children for “Life ain’t fair.”

The Doctor nodded, and reached up to rub at his temples. “The best you can do with Polyergus- the only thing you can do, really- is make sure anyone who’s telepathic stays the hell away from their hives, shut off all contact to the planet, and let them burn themselves out. I don’t like it and I wish as much as you do that it could be something different, but…it just isn’t the case, Rose. Sometimes, you can’t save everyone.”

Rose huffed.

“So, since letting these bastards freeze in the dark is the most moral thing to do, I think we should probably start thinking about how we’re going to get out of here. I don’t know about you two lovebirds, but being bug chow isn’t high on my to-do list.” Jack said, folding his arms.

The Doctor nodded stiffly, wrapping an arm around Rose.

“Mine either. We need a plan….” He muttered, mind racing.

Even if they could get past the door- which was deadlock-sealed- they’d still need to make their way to the TARDIS, navigating the labyrinthine hive that none of them knew the layout of, all without getting captured again. And with how busy the main tunnels were, the odds of them making it back to the ship were close to zero. 

“Would be nice if we could just get them to walk us back to the ship,” the Doctor mused, “Reckon we could probably trick them somehow, the question is just how we do it. We’d need to offer them something they’d want, something they couldn’t say no to…”

“The message,” Rose said quietly, “Didn’t that distress call mention they were trapped here? You said somethin’ about fixing a ship, yeah? Maybe they put up the call ‘cause they don’t have any working ships…”

The Doctor sat up, mind racing- thoughts thundering and sparking down the trails Rose’s words had just lit off.

“Polyergus don’t typically stay in one place this long,” he said, thinking back to the decimated desert around the hive, “They graze all the plants in the local area, no idea why, an’ then they move on. Last time I ran into them, it was well before it got this bad…”

“That so?” Jack echoed, “Rosie’s probably got a point, If that’s the case. I think these guys are probably stuck on this planet…and that’s just given me an idea.”

Jack’s face split into a wide grin, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

“Oh, this’ll be fun! Been ages since I did a good con. How about we tell ‘em that we’ll fly the TARDIS for them? Offer them our ship, and lie that we need all three of us alive to fly it? And we’ll fly them anywhere they want, no questions asked-“

“And ask them to take us to the TARDIS-“ the Doctor interjected, a grin growing on his own face-

“-An’ then when they take us there, we leg it?” Rose finished, “We leg it, an’ we take off?”

“Fantastic! Alright, that’s what we’ll do. No sense sticking around here. We’ll just leave an’ let the Polyergus sort themselves out. If they’re stuck on this planet, then that’s…well, that’s just better for everyone, really.” The Doctor nodded firmly.

“So…they think we’re all humans, yeah?” Rose said with concern,“What’re we gonna say? ‘Hey, we’ll give you guys a lift in our ship if you take us to it’?”

“Sounds good to me. These guys don’t seem all that bright- they’re basically the perfect marks. I mean for fuck’s sake, they didn’t even take my blasters away!” Jack said, pulling them out and showing them off, “Only reason I haven’t just squared the lock off is ‘cause I figured we needed a plan first before charging off to get killed.”

The Doctor nodded sagely. “Yes, and we’re all bloody glad you did, Jack. Anyway. I’ll do the talking-“

“And I’ll help! Who’s the con man, here?” Jack protested with a winning smile, and the Doctor just snorted in amusement.

“And I’ll make sure you don’t start being rude at them. Elbow you in the ribs, if I need to.” Rose interjected, the ghost of a smile on her face.

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to. Jack? How many shots on those blasters?” the Doctor said, his mind whirring away- too distracted to notice his companion’s ire in that moment.

“Ten each…all stun, unfortunately. Your ship let me charge them, but she had some opinions about lethality.” Jack sighed morosely, “So this is officially your reminder to stop at a spaceport so I can get a remote charging dock.”

The Doctor nodded, already mentally running down the list of things he’d say when their captors came back. This plan was unusually sensible for them- hell, it might even work first time out.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, an audibly different gait than the Ood that had locked them up. The Doctor paid it no mind, but Jack peered out through the bars- and stiffened.

“Uh,” Jack said, turning back to look at them, “Doc?”

“Hmm?” he looked up, and ambled over to the former captain.

Jack stuck an arm through the bars and pointed at the alien that was shuffling down the hallway, head drooping and posture lazy. Skin orange, eyes bearing the same glazed look as the others. In its hands it clutched a long knife, stained with old black blood. It came to a stop by their cage door, on the other side of the hall. Stood like a sentinel, facing them. 

The Doctor went ramrod stiff, hearts hammering in his chest.

Because clamped around the alien’s neck, tight enough to slightly depress the skin, was a dull iron collar.

The collar had copper lines running across its surface, and an even row of brass protrusions like little hemispheres dotted down the front. An LED light winked green in steady pulses from the middle of the collar, in line with the neck. A pair of ports for plugging in cables were empty, and twin seams on either side of the neck showed how it went on and off; a button flush with the metal sat next to the thin seam.

That wasn’t what really drew the eye, however.

The alien’s green blood stained the metal in places, and the pinched skin was flushed an irate green. Weeping sores were visible on the skin and blood had dribbled onto the alien’s shoulders.

The Doctor stiffened, and Rose joined them, staring at the alien and the collar.

“That’s a Vex,” Jack said, aghast, “Doc- _they’re-“_

“Yes.” The Doctor replied quietly, eyes locked on the collar around the Vex’s neck. Cold horror thundered through his veins as he reeled with what that meant. At the fact that their lovely, wonderful plan had just taken a monkey wrench straight up the arse.

“Hang on, didn’t you have drinks with that Vex last night?” Rose said to Jack, “You did, didn’t you? You said somethin’ about Vex bein’ mind-blowin’ in the sack-“

“Rose,” Jack said quietly as they stared at the alien, _“Vex are touch telepaths.”_

Rose seized up and looked at the Doctor fearfully.

“Oh, God-“ she whispered, “I thought you just said they _couldn’t-“_

“I didn’t know.” The Doctor whispered, “They didn’t have that technology last time I-“

All three of them fell silent as the Vex continued to stare at them.

“What are we going to do?” Rose whispered, and the Doctor shuddered.

That was a very good question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“So reliant are they on their slaves that without their help, they are incapable of feeding themselves or rearing the young. Huber experimentally put 30 of the slave-making ants in a box with some of their larvae, some pupae, a little soil, and a generous supply of honey. Within two days, half of these ants were dead, presumably of starvation. He then introduced one slave ant into the box. It very soon "established order, formed a chamber in the earth, gathered together the larvae, extricated several young ants that were ready to quit the condition of pupae, and preserved the life of the remaining Amazons."_
> 
> -What I saw in an ant’s nest, specific quote filched from Wikipedia because this is a fanfic and not a term paper.
> 
> Yes, I will probably be citing sources when I feel the need. You can't make this shit up, and I'm not. I'm sad I lack the talent to make this shit up.
> 
> So, backlog is looking mighty healthy, although I've had little time to sit down and write this week and probably won't have any over the weekend either. Oh well, what can you do. Monday update pencilled in for a "maybe, we'll see"- depends entirely on how things shake out this weekend. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts. Feed me your comments. And hold on to something, because it's all downhill from here.


	5. Polyergus breviceps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor makes some changes to the plan. Rose isn't sure about this...

The Vex continued to stare at them, and the Doctor’s hearts were hammering. Rose opened her mouth to say something, and he held up a finger to silence her.

The Vex was here, and listening. And everything they said would be fed straight back to the Polyergus hivemind.

He locked eyes with Jack, whose jaw clenched a bit- and he nodded. Jack knew. Keep quiet for now.

The Doctor stood up, stepping towards the bars and leaning against them, sizing up the Vex. They needed to make some changes to the plan- for safety’s sake, if nothing else. He couldn’t risk it. But first, he needed that Vex to leave them alone.

It wasn’t moving, just standing there like a sentinel. The Doctor shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, examining the collar-

A ghost of a plan sketched itself out in his mind as he examined it. Iron, hemispheres probably containing radio receivers… he needed more information about how that thing worked, even if it was tickling his memory…

He turned away from the bars and started to pace frantically. Everything rested on that collar, then.

It looked an awful lot like a cheap neural relay- a simple transmitter, letting otherwise-incompatible telepaths interact with the hivemind. Convert the telepathic signals to radio waves, beamed from a central transmitter to the collars, where it was turned back into a signal compatible with their biology.

It almost certainly wasn’t a more sophisticated telepathic transmitter- those typically took the form of a crown arrangement, attached to the head and not the neck. The more advanced sort didn’t need a relay tower- they could just plug into telepathic transmissions independently and relay them to the wearer. Difficult to stop up the signal when the signal is telepathic and coming in from all angles.

If it _was_ a simple neural relay…then it would be trivial to interfere with it with his screwdriver. Interfere with the incoming signal by broadcasting one of his own, and the hivemind’s transmissions into that Vex’s head would be all muddled- and hopefully, it would leave. But that hinged on his assumption being correct…

That theory needed substantiation before he started waving his sonic around like a magic wand.

This hive was made of dense concrete and stone and other solid material…so any radio signal would need to be an ultra-low frequency to penetrate through the entire structure. They’d need a device like the radios used in the deepest mines….and presumably, to prevent a slave revolt, said device couldn’t ever stop broadcasting. Lest their slaves snap out of it and try to kill their masters, or just try to escape…

So, he had his target: an ultra-low radio frequency, and most likely a constant signal.

The Vex was still standing there staring at them, and the Doctor discreetly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started to fiddle with it, moving away from the door so the Vex couldn’t see. He still marvelled at how thick this lot were- any competent guard would have strip-searched their captives and taken away his sonic the second they’d seen it.

“Doctor?” Rose hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Testing somethin’. Shush. M’trying to think…”

He fiddled through the settings on his screwdriver, silently twiddling the dial and cupping his free hand around the tip to muffle the buzz. No… no, not that one…not that one… _there._

Setting 47.6-Pie-55: Radio wave frequency scanning.

He hit the button, and the Vex cocked its head at the slight buzz; but it made no motion towards the door.

The Doctor stopped the scan and checked the readings, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

He’d found a few scattered signals- there was a pulsing broadcast, consistent with an intermittent distress call meant for deep space. Probably the one the TARDIS had picked up. Then there was a small source buzzing away at a high frequency nearby; most likely, Rose’s mobile, looking for a cell tower. But underlaid on both was a persistent hum…

The Doctor smirked.

An ultra-low-frequency radio signal permeated the hive, buzzing away in the background without a break. It was a low enough frequency to penetrate the concrete and earth and rebar, and presumably was being fed by a transmitter in the middle of the hive. That, most likely, was the radio frequency the collars were using. So: Frequency found, preliminary research conducted…

Time to test that hypothesis.

He fiddled through his sonic settings again, settling on 49.0-Pie-23: signal interference. Set that for ULF radio transmissions…

He pressed the button on the sonic, scaling back the level of interference so it wouldn’t be total.

The Vex’s head shot up, and it started to look around in confusion. It staggered away from the cell, alarm in its eyes- and most importantly, clutching its head.

The Doctor smirked. 

The smirk faded as soon as the Vex was gone, and he turned back to his companions with a serious expression on his face.

“I need something to fixate on. Something that wouldn’t be in this hive, something you two weren’t wearing, something small…” he started, tone low and flat.

“What’s happening?” Rose asked, folding her arms, “What’re you doing?”

“Yeah, Doc. Change in the plan?” Jack asked grimly, and the Doctor nodded.

“Yeah. Change of plan.” the Doctor growled, rubbing his forehead, “If that Vex is following orders, then I’ll bet my screwdriver those collars are built so touch telepaths can interact with the hivemind. I really don’t want to risk them pulling me in- if they get what’s in my head…”

He shuddered.

Knowledge of time travel. Civilizations had been laid to waste by the misuse of time travel- he knew full well the consequences of derailing history. And if the Polyergus somehow got inside his head, they’d have access to _everything_ he knew. The idea of a race of parasitic slavers having _all of time and space_ at their fingertips…

It didn’t bear thinking about. He couldn’t take the risk, even for a short walk down the hallway to the ship.

He paused and straightened up, folding his arms and giving his best _I’m the Lord of fucking Time, now listen to me_ look.

“We’re not changing the plan. But I can’t risk them pulling me into their hivemind. This lot- if they get me, right now, they’ll have knowledge of time travel. How to build a TARDIS, how to build a time machine- that just can’t happen. I can’t take that risk.”

Rose shuddered.

“So…what are you going to do?” She asked, and the Doctor smiled grimly.

“I can lock up some of my memories. All the really dangerous stuff, knowledge I don’t want anyone having. But to do it safely, and so I can recall it all quickly, I need something to fixate on.” He said, and Rose tilted her head.

“Like what? What are you going to do with it?”

“Preferably something small, like the TARDIS key, but something I’m not likely to see out of the corner of my eye- something I wouldn’t have on my person, or realize is missing from one of you. I’ll use that, put myself in a trance, and temporarily lock up whatever I can’t risk them having. Make myself forget two-thirds of how to fly the TARDIS too, just in case… Then when we’re safe in the vortex, you hand me the object back, an’ I’ll remember it all.”

“O…kay…” Rose started, “Why?

The Doctor growled a little folding his arms and leaning back against the wall.

“Because,” Jack interjected, “If they get into his head, anything in his brain becomes something they can access. Is that right?”

The Doctor nodded.

“Alright, sure,” Rose said with a sigh, rubbing her forehead, “An’…why do you need this object? How’s it going to bring all your memories back…?”

“Posthypnotic trigger,” the Doctor grunted, pacing a few steps and then pacing back, “I’ll lock all the memories away with the image and sensation of the object, and then when it’s handed back to me, everything will all come rushing back.”

Rose considered this, and Jack was already rummaging in his pockets.

“Something to fixate on…” Rose mumbled, reaching into her pocket and extracting the two-pound coin she’d stuffed away. She held it up and let him see- it was fresh from the mint, nice and shiny.

“Would this work?” she asked, looking him in the eye.

The Doctor’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, that’s PERFECT, Rose! A twenty-first century British coin! There’s no way they’ll have another one, it’s small- that’s exactly what I need!” She placed it in his hand, and he grinned at her, pulling her in for a hug.

“Just what the Doctor ordered, eh?” Jack said with a chuckle, leaning against the bars. 

The Doctor nodded, walking over to sit on the tiny bench and placing the coin in his palm. As he sat down, Rose stood up- taking a few steps back towards the cell door and glancing nervously into the hallway. Nobody was coming.

When she glanced back, the Doctor caught her gaze- and his expression hardened.

“When I’m finished, I’ll drop it. I need you to get it before I see it, and DO NOT let me see this coin until we’re all back on the TARDIS and in the vortex, got it?” he said, and Rose nodded.

The Doctor took a few deep, slow breaths, controlling his breathing. Letting it all even out, staring at the coin in his palm.

Everything went very, very quiet. Distant scuttling, the thrum of machinery, the whirring of ventilation- all so far away it was just white noise.

He pulled himself into a trance- and everything else ceased to exist.

* * *

Jack put his finger to his lips, putting a hand on Rose’s shoulder and turning her so they were both looking out the bars. She spared a glance back, biting her lip nervously. Her Doctor was staring at his palm vacantly; hunched forward, arm resting on his leg, utterly transfixed.

Not for the first time, Rose found herself wishing she knew more about all this alien nonsense. Here she was, not able to do anything useful; she didn’t know anything about Polyergus or all this telepathy nonsense…

She did know him, though. If the Doctor needed her to keep that coin safe, then she wasn’t going to part with it on pain of death.

She’d protect him.

The coin hit the cell floor with a CLINK, rolling away from the Doctor and under the bench, and he groaned and blinked a few times, lifting his head and stretching his neck out.

“What…?” he grunted, standing up and looking around. Jack got to his feet and rushed over, guiding him towards the cell door.

Rose scrambled towards the bench, scooping up the coin and frantically shoving it in her pocket- it was probably the only two-pound coin in the entire universe at that moment, and if she lost it…

It didn’t bear thinking about. He might not get his memories back ever.

Rose shivered, turning around to meet the Doctor’s confused gaze.

“What was that all about?” he asked, “Why was I starin’ at my hand like that?”

“You’re tired, probably.” Rose said with a sigh and a dismissive eye roll, hoping she could keep this charade going until they were back aboard the TARDIS. If the Doctor was telling the truth, all reality hung on him not seeing that coin until they were away and free…

Jack nodded smoothly, giving Rose the _don’t worry, babe, I got this_ look he got when they were teaming up to mess with the Doctor. Usually, though, that look involved distracting him while Rose stole all his jumpers or something, not keeping him in the dark about the lobotomy he’d essentially performed on himself…

“You spaced out for a bit. Rose is right- you need to sleep more.” Jack assured him. The Doctor looked at Jack suspiciously- he wasn’t buying it- but rather than challenging his companion, he opted to study the man with a piercing glare and turn away.

“Right. Anyway, indiscretions aside...the plan? Still the same as it ever was?” the Doctor said, looking between his two companions. He stood up and walked toward the cell doors, folding his arms and glancing out.

“Same as we discussed. Pull a con on some stupid insects, they walk us to the TARDIS, we get out of here. Easy peasy.” Jack said, and the Doctor smiled.

“Good. Let’s hope they hurry up- all this sitting around is doing my head in.” he said, turning his back to Rose.

She bit her lip and reached into her pocket, feeling the coin stuffed in the depths. He needed her to keep that coin safe.

He needed her. And she’d keep him safe- all of him. Forever.

She’d promised.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and the Doctor grinned at Jack.

“Showtime.” Jack whispered gleefully.

Rose grinned weakly.

Despite having one of the more comprehensible plans they’d ever devised, she couldn’t quell the butterflies churning in her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short, this. Sorry. And this is probably the last Monday update for a while. The semester is really hitting the road now and I have about four things due in the next three days, so writing's going to be on the backburner. 
> 
> Which is a shame, because things are just starting to get good.
> 
> Anyway, as usual, let me know your thoughts! Your comments and theories have been fueling me, and the temptation to post more frequently than my once-a-week minimum is fuelled by you guys. Thanks to everyone who's said their piece so far!


	6. Formica canadensis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team puts their plan into action...

Rose sidled up to the Doctor, a fake smile on her face to compensate for the nerves. The footsteps tapped up to their cell door, revealing the Vex from before and two other aliens- the Ood from before, and some other she didn’t recognize. Tall and slender and blue.

“Hello!” the Doctor said brightly, “Lovely hive you got here, hey?”

“Yeah, we’ve just been admiring it. Looking around, all that. Hey, we picked up your distress call…just wondering if you guys meant anything by that?” Jack said, doing his best to sound friendly and approachable. Both of them were beaming at their captors, megawatt smiles directed at a wall of emotionless alien.

The blue-skinned alien twitched. The three faces were staring at them, and if Rose didn’t know better, she’d have guessed they were confused.

“The transmission said something about you all being trapped here on this planet? Shame, that. Tragic, really. Would hate to see anyone trapped in a barren waste forever…” the Doctor said, looking solemn and nodding at Jack.

“Yeah, that’s just not alright. So, we’ve all been talking about it, thinking over your message. I bet you guys are short on ships, yeah? Are you?”

 **“Are we what.”** The three aliens droned in unison, all their heads tilting in sync. Rose bit the inside of her cheek to suppress a shiver.

“Short on ships!” the Doctor finished cheerfully, “Well, are you? Do you have enough ships to get you all off-planet?”

There was a long pause as the three aliens studied him, and then Jack.

“We lack the vessels necessary to leave this world.” They droned in their flat, empty monotone, eyes empty and glassy.

“Well, that’s just a damn shame,” Jack said, “Which is what we three were talking about. See, we’ve got this amazing ship. Really, really great. The blue box you found us with? That thing’s incredible. We can take hundreds in there!”

More staring.

“He’s right. It’s ah…bigger than it looks on the inside. We’ll give you all a lift, help you lot out, yeah? Intergalactic movers, we are. Anywhere you like, we’ll take you!” the Doctor said sweetly, and Rose smiled at them.

“…Which of you is the vessel’s pilot?” the three aliens droned at once, all staring unblinkingly ahead.

“Ah, that’s the trouble…” the Doctor said with a recalcitrant smile, “We’re all the pilot. Needs three to fly her.”

“Yeah! Needs all three of us. That ship’s a HANDFUL, let me tell you. And she’s a NIGHTMARE to learn, trust me. You’ll never figure it out- we’ve been training to fly it since we were all juveniles.” Jack nodded seriously, a cheeky gleam in his eye.

The aliens stood there like statues. Rose got the impression they were all processing that- like Mickey’s laggy computer loading a webpage.

“You offer to fly us off this planet. Why should we trust you?”

“Hey man, you’re gonna _eat us_.” Jack said, gesturing between them, “Three humans, you know? I’d do _anything_ to not die. You don’t eat us, we’ll get you all moved around. Join forces with you guys! Anywhere you want to go in the universe, we’ll take you there.” Jack said, “Plus, our ship doesn’t need warp fuel.”

“That’s right. She’s a special one, our ship.” The Doctor said proudly.

“You agree to fly us to new forage?” the aliens droned, “You agree to fly our workers to new hives to recruit new friends?”

 _Friends?!_ Rose internally blanched at that. They…they considered their SLAVES… friends?! What kind of warped and twisted-

“Oh, sure. Anything you want. In fact…if you spring us from here, we’ll show you the inside of our ship. You can see how roomy it is.”

“It’s not like we’re going to go running off!” the Doctor said with a grin, “We don’t know our way around this hive…and tell you what, you bring a bunch of your ‘friends’ on our ship when we show you around. You don’t like what we do, you can mince us all up and feed us to the brood. How’s that? A free trip.”

The aliens thought about this. The Vex tilted their head independently, and for a moment their black eyes seemed to clear, the empty clouds parting, and they spoke alone.

“What do you want in return for aiding us?” they croaked, and the Doctor froze up.

“Ah, well,” he said smoothly, a slight shine of panic in his eyes, “I don’t think that’s the right question, and-“

“Psychic honey!” Jack shouted, all eyes turning to stare at him. He coughed, shoving away his desperation- his expression straightened again, back to the suave conman. 

“You, uh, you guys make psychic honey, right? Heard it through the grapevine from some of my, uh, contacts.”

The Vex stared at him blankly for several agonizing, terrifying seconds.

“We do have psychic honey here,” They replied flatly, “It is very important to us. What would you want with it?”

Jack’s face split into a wide grin and he leaned on the bars.

“Oh, we just need a few drops, really.” He said smoothly, “That stuff’s worth a fortune, you know? Specially when it’s the real deal, from a hive. Over on Abraxis-6 they’ll pay a half-million credits for a single test tube’s worth. It’s the base for a bunch of really crazy drugs for telepaths- they’ll beat a path to your door for some. So, uh, you give us some psychic honey…and we fly you wherever the hell you want! Sound good?”

Psychic honey? Rose was lost. What the fuck was that? Why the hell did she have to be so CLUELESS…

The Doctor turned to shoot Jack a half-scowl that would have been a lot harsher in any other circumstance. The implication that they were running an intergalactic drug hustle was a serious insult. But if it got them out of there…

The Vex considered that, and its eyes glazed over again as it stood there.

And stood there. All three of them went stiff as statues, as though they were considering what had been said. The seconds ticked by, and Rose chewed her lip nervously. The Doctor was shifting his weight from foot to foot, and she could see the tension starting to coil in Jack’s shoulders.

Finally, when the tension had grown so thick Rose was fairly certain she’d pass out, the three aliens spoke in unison.

“We will take you to your vessel. You will open it for us. If your statements are true, it will be bigger on the inside. If your statements are true, you will aid the hive in finding new forage. If your statements are false, we will render you into food for our young. If you attempt to escape, we will render you into food for our young. Is this clear?”

“Crystal,” Jack purred, pleased-with-himself smugness radiating off that one word. He instantly relaxed, flashing them a lazy, charming grin, like he was on a winning streak at the blackjack table and about to shag the dealer senseless.

The Vex stepped forward and threw the switch on the wall, lifting the bolt on the cage with a rusty shriek of scraping metal. The door swung open, and Rose subconsciously grabbed the Doctor’s hand.

He took it, giving her a little squeeze- a big, work-roughened hand. Cooler than her own but dependable and solid. Rose squeezed back, and she straightened up. They’d gotten past the first hurdle- this plan might just work.

And with her hand in his…well, it was hard to feel truly afraid, really.

The Vex took up a position at the front of their little column, the two other aliens falling behind them as they marched. Out of the narrow cell area, and the Doctor dropped Rose’s hand, throwing her a knowing wink. She smiled at him, and they kept walking.

The huge chamber where all the metal carts were kept had long steel tables with knives and other devices hanging on racks or scattered all over the place- like a chop shop for living tissue, and nobody had bothered to tidy up. Rose shuddered at the sight of human-red blood, long dried, caked on the sides of one of the tables.

That could’ve been her.

They walked on, back past the room full of wriggling grubs. The creature in the steel cup wasn’t thrashing anymore, but Rose stared at the green fluid staining the sides curiously.

Far fewer aliens than before were tending the brood rooms- and the few that were there moved like they were overtaxed and exhausted. One alien slumped on their six legs, gasping for breath-only to straighten and continue cleaning off the grub in front, feeding it something red and squishy and staggering off to the next one.

Around the alien’s neck gleamed a dull iron collar.

Rose shuddered at the idea of the Doctor with one of those clamped around him. No. No thank you.

The group of slave-aliens lead them on down the tunnel, back out into the main hallway. Workers- Polyergus and slaves- crowded around, bustling to and fro. Rose watched a tall, slender alien with a steel bowl hold it up to the mouth of a Polyergus worker- the insectoid alien’s antennae flicked, and it bent its head and ate from the bowl its slave was holding.

They walked down the main tunnel some ways, Polyergus turning their heads to look at the little posse and then looking away. Antennae flicked, and Rose pressed up close to the Doctor. Her heart was hammering, and she grabbed his hand.

This place was terrifying.

They took another sharp turn down a dimly-lit tunnel, a light overhead flickering on and off; this small side tunnel was permeated with a scent like lawn clippings left in the sun. The strange mouldy smell of rotten leaves, partly dried. Rose gagged a little, and the Doctor squeezed her hand.

They stepped into another chamber, and Rose’s jaw dropped.

It was a large curved chamber with dozens of large recesses in the walls, enough to park a large truck in each slot. And in those recesses were Polyergus workers- but twisted, their bodies warped in a way that turned Rose’s stomach.

They sat on their fronts, unmoving but for their antennae- and the first few segments of their bodies were unchanged. But their gaster, the final segment, was swollen- all of them were swollen with greenish liquid, until their abdomens resembled giant bags of water rather than parts of an animal. They’d swelled to the size of a small car, leaving the workers essentially immobile; Rose noted that even with their huge gasters, these workers were still significantly smaller than their recesses.

Like they were all…half-empty.

“What…what the hell are those?!” Rose hissed, and the Doctor shuddered and shrugged.

“I don’t know.” He muttered.

They kept walking.

Past more rooms with more workers, tended to by the same skeleton crew of overtaxed slaves. Rose shivered at the sight of these disfigured Polyergus- what could be the purpose of so horribly mangling their own workers?

Another sharp turn, down a nearly-empty side hallway, and the stench changed from rotten food to rusting metal. The lights overhead grew fewer and less reliable, the darkness all-consuming.

Rose squeezed the Doctor’s hand tight.

He squeezed it back.

The chambers threaded along here were populated by a paltry handful of slaves- three or four at most, tinkering away at workbenches. One tall slender alien was slumped over a machine with a welding mask on their face- and they weren't moving.

Rose blinked back tears, turning away.

They stepped into another dark hallway, and Rose leaned against the Doctor for comfort. They were getting closer…

The next room had Rose’s heart leaping into her throat.

It was bisected by a path, just like all the others. But off to the side, surrounded by three aliens with sharp cutting tools and confused expressions, stood the TARDIS in all her glory.

She filled the space with her presence, and instantly Rose felt better. A smattering of aliens stood around it, clutching tools that verged on weapons- like they’d been trying to cut into the TARDIS and been rebuffed. There was a large scratch on her paintwork, and Rose winced.

Even so.

They’d made it. They’d _actually made it._ This stupid, stupid plan was going to WORK.

“Open the box,” all the aliens in the room droned, all turning to face their little group. The Doctor grinned lazily, pulling out the TARDIS key and stepping towards his ship. Rose fought hard to keep the relieved smile off her face, and Jack was just oozing triumph beside her. They’d made it.

“So, we’ll just pop it open, and you can take a look around,” the Doctor babbled, taking another step towards the ship. One more step, another fraction of a second, and they’d be home free-

Every alien in the room went ramrod stiff all at once.

And they all lunged, faster than Rose could blink.

The tall scaly bloke with the chainsaw that towered over the Doctor was suddenly between him and the TARDIS doors, eight feet of muscle and armour glaring down at the Time Lord. The others were running to block the other exit, a wall of their bodies that they couldn’t hope to get past.

Jack pulled out one of his blasters as the Doctor took a step back from the alien, mouth already open and words about to pour out-

Four Polyergus strode into the room from the only remaining entrance, and Rose froze.

Their exoskeletons gleamed menacingly in the low light as they all turned and looked at their three captives. Antennae flicked, and their strange blasters glinted in the light as they surveyed the scene.

Jack levelled his gun-

The Polyergus closest to the door moved faster than blinking, a bolt of blue light sailing across the room and slamming into Jack. He grunted- and crumpled to the ground in a heap, his blaster skidding out of his fingertips.

“JACK!” she screamed, diving towards him to check that he was still okay. He was still breathing, and Rose grabbed his weapon and shoved it into her pocket, whipping her head up to check-

All of them had their weapons out and levelled at her and the Doctor.

“You will not resist.” The Polyergus droned in unison, and Rose shuddered. Like creepy windup toys, chittering out their words all at once.

“Ah, well, see, we weren’t doing that!” the Doctor protested, “We’re trying to help you! We made the offer, and you accepted, and might I add that shooting my friend is VERY unhelpful to our, uh… oh. Oh no. Oh fuck-“ he spluttered, eyes going wide as one of the four stepped forwards.

Rose followed his gaze- and her heart stopped.

In its hands, the worker clutched a dull iron collar. The copper lines around the edges glinted malevolently in the light, and panic hammered into Rose like the beating of a drum.

“NO!” she screamed, jumping to her feet and lunging towards the Polyergus- she didn’t care about the blasters, she didn’t care, NO-

One of the blasted brown bugs lunged forwards quicker than blinking and grabbed the back of her shirt, yanking her away and flinging her off her feet and towards Jack. Rose hit the dirt with a groan, skidding to a stop in a tangle of bruises and pain. She lifted her head, eyes wide-

Watching as the Doctor slowly backed away.

“You are the telepath?” they said in unison, and the Doctor locked up.

“No!” he yelled, “No I’m not, what are you talking about? I’m, I’m a human! I thought we all knew this! Why the hell would you think I was a telepath!?”

“You are the telepath.” They stated, voices flat and toneless, “Resist and your males will die.”

The worker pressed a button on the top of the collar and it split in half, a hinge down the side. It took another step towards the Time Lord.

Black eyes locked on blue.

The Doctor jerked, trying to spear off to the side- the Polyergus grabbed him with one of its free arms, yanking him forwards and off his feet, face tumbling towards brown chiton-

Rose screamed in terror, and the collar snapped around the Doctor’s neck with an ominous click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s all downhill from here. And I am so very, very excited...
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments! You guys keep me going.


	7. Polyergus longicornis

The second the cold metal snapped around his neck the Doctor started thrashing and trying to pull it off. It was too tight- he could feel it with every breath, squeezing his windpipe just enough to annoy, just enough so that he’d never be able to forget that the damn thing was on him-

And Rose, and they’d hurt Rose-

There was a distant click, and any thoughts or concerns he’d had were instantly derailed.

His thoughts were flooded with _noise._

He screamed in pain as a wall of static hit him, smothering all his thoughts, all his memories in its deafening cacophony; the screeching of a computer howled through him, signals processing and unprocessing and driving red-hot nails through his brain while it did so.

He fell to his knees, barely cognizant of the dirt beneath his jeans, the feel of the floor under his palms, because the burning, scorching pain-

It stopped.

It stopped, like a CD skipping over a scratch, and suddenly instead of a wall of agony-

Chanting.

Thousands of voices, chanting in dull, empty harmony, all together, as one. Sometimes some would break away from the endless chanting, joined by dozens or hundreds of their fellows, to recite a different mantra for a short time, but eventually their voices would fade and they would join the thoughtless repetition.

A rally where the only words were _“Join us.”_

_Join us._

_Join us._

_Join us…_

A soft chittering underlaid it all, and the Doctor’s telepathic senses rankled at it. This was not what his soul craved every waking second. The endless recitation was like he was trapped in a vast cathedral with a mindless flock repeating insipid prayers. He chafed and bit against the stifling web it was weaving around him, washing towards him, taking his feet out from under him. And yet his focus was fractured with the shock of sudden contact.

It took a moment for the Doctor to realize he’d started muttering along to one of the meaningless chants, and he snarled.

The Time Lord hivemind did not _chant_.

 _Time Lords_ did not _chant._

 _His_ hivemind was not an empty, vapid thing, the recitations of the thoughtless echoing together in one vacant will. _His_ hivemind sung of all of history, all of _his people’s_ history, their present reflected in their melody. The Time Lords sang together just by being, weaving a complicated symphony that resounded in every corner of time and space. It wove through the vortex and pervaded his being, heard by every TARDIS and their pilot. The song was endless, it was infinite, and it never repeated; and even now, even after the end, the Song of Time continued in him.

This empty… _vulgarity_ … the Polyergus offered was _not_ what he ached for.

His mind craved _song._

And yet… and yet it also craved _connection,_ something to fill the hole and patch the wound. The aloneness was driving him insane, slowly, so very slowly. Without his TARDIS, he’d have gone barking mad long before this moment.

Second over second, despite his logic and rationality, the chanting grew louder and louder and louder in his mind.

_Join us._

_Join us and be loved._

_Join us and be wanted._

_Join us and hurt no more._

_Join us._

_Join us._

_Join us._

A maddening mantra, repeated over and over and over again, lapping against his mental defenses like the tide hitting the shore. And as the seconds ticked by the waves grew larger and larger, until his outermost wall crumbled, and-

The faintest touch hit his telepathic centres. The touch of a network of minds, not just their dull voices- the buzz, the buzz of thoughts that underlaid the music his soul screamed for. Thousands of thoughts in a messy tangle, even if all of them were the same. The humming, the connection, it wrapped around him like a warm blanket, and his entire being screamed in desperation for it. It was like a shot straight to the pleasure center of his brain, want and need shooting down his spine- like he’d been drowning without realizing it, and his head had broken the surface and he’d just sucked down a lungful of air. It was a hit to a desperate addict- and he wanted _more._

For half a second, his resolve slipped.

It was a drink of water in the desert and he was nearly delirious with desire for the connection. More, _more_ , he wanted more, wanted another taste-

Wanting and craving that feeling in his mind of someone else, of _something else_ , something to stabilize him, keep him sane, and his eyes unfocused. The buzzing started to consume him, the chanting slowly wearing him down, and-

A shout tore through the haze, tore past all the empty chanting and low, even buzzing that was putting him into a trance, and the Doctor stiffened.

Rose. That was Rose yelling for him.

 _Let us take your pain_ , they crooned, _let us take what hurts. Join us and be loved. Join us and be happy. Join us. Join us…_

**NO.**

He growled, clenching his teeth and straining to disentangle himself from the web the voices had spun all around him. The more he struggled, the louder it got- erecting his shields was like dragging a car out of a mire with a rope and his bare hands.

He snarled.

**_Time Lords did not chant._ **

Every wall he threw up tore at his mind and his soul, a painful ache that slowly dulled as the seconds ticked by. Every barrier he threw up made the chanting slightly quieter- but he could still hear it. Like being locked in a room with speakers in the walls, all he could do was cover his ears. It was still there, suffusing his mind, knocking on his walls.

He wasn’t going to let them beat him.

_You are hurting…_

Fuck off with that. Of course he was hurting. EVERYONE was hurting in some way or another.

The Doctor clenched his teeth and staggered back to his feet, opening his eyes on a room he couldn’t fully process- every second he pulled away from the shields, they crumbled. Like sandcastles being lapped at gently by the tide. His sanity ebbed, but he could fight this. He could fight this.

He turned, staggering- a flash of dark blue filled his vision. Dark blue good. Dark blue safe. Dark blue home.

He stumbled into it, bracing his hands against the dark blue surface, rough texture under his hands. Round hole, he needed…he needed a round silver hole….

The chanting washed over him as he strained, and with it, a voice floated overtop of his walls. A warm voice, a loving voice. A motherly voice.

 ** _Bring her to us,_** the voice purred, **_her resistance makes her the perfect candidate…_**

Focusing on that voice and what it meant distracted him for just long enough that one of his walls crumbled. The hive gained some ground- and the Doctor clenched his teeth.

No.

This was HIS head, this was HIS mind, and they would not take him. Any pleasure they offered would be drowned out a thousandfold by the pain the people he loved would suffer at their hands.

_Why do you fight us? Join us and be happy. Join us and be at peace…_

He snarled. Why? Why did he fight? Oh, he’d give them WHY…

Rose. Rose was why. He fashioned a shield out of his love for her, a mighty golden bulwark that shone brighter than any fake happiness these bugs could offer him. He wove it through with his fondness for Jack, their burgeoning friendship shoring up the sides of it. And in the centre he drove his connection to his ship, always there, always in his mind, fashioning it into a wicked, gleaming spike. With that, he lunged at the encroaching tide, bashing back the howling horde and regaining his lost ground. He threw up his mental barricades as soon as he’d recovered the lost earth, opening his eyes and panting.

The world still didn’t make sense, half-glimpsed views of something he didn’t have the brainpower spare to process. Something rattled close- when had he fallen to his knees?- golden hair, a croaking voice-

The tide washed in again, and the Doctor clenched his teeth.

Right, defense was a losing man’s game. If these Polyergus wanted him, they’d have to fight him tooth and nail for his mind. The constant lapping of their thousands of voices started to erode one of his outermost shields, the wall crumbling and giving way- and behind it, the Doctor planned his counterattack.

He had just the thing.

The wall went down, crumbling to dust as all things did, and the Polyergus surged forward, making up lost ground and taking so much more. And he let them take it, let them charge down the tunnel he’d crafted, every last calculated inch- and when they were so far in down the tunnel that they were properly wedged, the trap snapped shut.

He opened a hole in the back of his head, giving his pain to the Polyergus- just as they’d asked. Just like they wanted. Give them his pain? Alright. He’d give them his pain. He’d give them the one bit of pain they couldn’t possibly handle.

A hole straight to his connection to the Time Lords. A hole straight to HIS hivemind.

A hole that carried nothing more than the final scream of his people, echoing back and forth across all of time for all eternity. An infinite scream, an infinite howl- the deathrattle of a dying race.

And the Doctor planted his heels in the dirt, turned around, and slammed that scream _right in the Polyergus’ fucking face._

The swarm recoiled with a scream of its own, the hivemind retreating from his mind and scurrying as far away as it possibly could. The endless recitations that suffused the edges of his thoughts blurred and sharpened into a frightened buzz, and the Doctor allowed himself to feel a moment’s triumph.

His eyes snapped open, desperately trying to suck in enough air. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. The hive was still there in his head, and it was suffocating him. He was drowning under their weight, his lungs refusing to obey his commands. So much of his brain was deadlocked fighting off the swarm that he couldn’t breathe. Air. He couldn’t get any AIR-

Something stomped over to him, something reddish-brown and gleaming, and his eyes weren’t quite working. The Hivemind was still buzzing angrily in the back of his brain, and he wasn’t sure he could keep the fight going for much longer-

**_Reduce the power on hers. Bring her to us. We need her to have her faculties…intact._ **

The voice floated through the back of his brain, and he didn’t have time to process it- the red-brown-shiny thing bend down over him, chittering and clicking, and adjusted something on his neck-

The Doctor gasped.

Air surged into his lungs, breath after breath- his head had just broken the surface, and he could breathe, could breathe on his own again.

He rolled slowly onto his front, blinking in confusion as the humming torrent of voices in the back of his head quieted down to a more manageable level. It still felt a bit like he was shoring up a crumbling levee with his bare hands, but at least there wasn’t a tsunami pounding on his walls anymore.

He focused on his walls, shoring them up, putting as many barriers between himself and the swarm as he possibly could. Another head-on collision with the mad need for connection and his resolve would crumble like a house of cards in a hurricane.

That wasn’t going to happen.

He couldn’t suppress it fully, but- for the moment, his thoughts were his own. For the moment.

He levered himself up into a sitting position with a grunt, panting and trying to get his bearings back.

One blink, and another- and his vision cleared and sharpened.

Looming over him was a Polyergus worker, her head tilted and antennae twitching. She regarded him coldly- the Doctor could feel her irritation at him. It pulsed through the hivemind, this one worker sizing him up.

 _She is trouble,_ thousands of voices hummed, and he felt the aftershocks of the impact resonate back through the hivemind and needling him in the back of the head.

That faint echo of his people’s dying howl had rang across the Polyergus’s hive- like a slap across their collective face. They knew the pain carried on that howl, could feel it intimately, and in one fell swoop, he’d forced them all to bear it. And they were not pleased.

There was a rumbling behind the worker, and the Doctor stared blankly at a grey metal cart rolling up towards them.

The worker looming over him held up the arm clutching her weapon and began to toggle a setting on the side, and the Doctor attempted to sit up and wriggle away. Get closer to Rose…

The worker bent down and held out her blaster level with his head, pulling the trigger. A flash of blue light split the air, and instantly all his limbs went numb and limp.

Like a living ragdoll, groggy and disorientated. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t move…

The worker crouched down, her four legs flexing, and she carefully scooped him up off the ground. The Doctor attempted to thrash a bit in protest, but she simply tucked him against her chest as she rose back up. Like he weighed no more than a kitten, carrying him with one arm under his shoulders and another under his knees.

“Rose-“ he grunted, catching a glimpse of some of the slave aliens loading his companions into the metal cart. His hearts lurched as a vision filtered through the connection- of Rose and Jack being taken back to the nurseries. Of them being fed to the brood. 

**_Bring her to us,_** the strange voice repeated, **_bring her to us, for we have need of her…_**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're really in for it now...
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! I love reading your comments, they drive me to write faster so I can update twice a week instead of just on Fridays.


	8. Formica dolosa I

The Polyergus cradled him to her chest, a rhythmic rocking as they walked. The Doctor made a few attempts to wriggle away, but his arms and legs felt like they’d been filled with sand- he couldn’t move.

There was nothing to do but lay back and shore up his mental walls.

They carried him back to the main tunnel, lights growing brighter as they approached the main thoroughfare in the hive; and then it was a long walk down, ever deeper into the belly of the beast.

He closed his eyes, hearts pounding. Rose and Jack. He needed to save them. He needed to save himself, he needed- he needed-

If Rose died here-

It didn’t bear thinking about.

Through his closed eyelids he saw a change in brightness so sharp it startled them open again. The worker kept walking, and he craned his neck up as much as he could on his jellified muscles, straining to see his new surroundings.

The Doctor’s chest tightened, ice-cold slush pounding through his veins.

They carried him into a vast chamber, like a stadium with sloping walls up the sides around a central bowl. Two curved paths descended from two entrances on either side of the room, curving down to the dais in the center. Aliens swarmed in the brightly-lit, orange-yellow cavern, and the walls and floor here were cleaner than anywhere else in the hive. In the middle of the space stood a tall spire festooned with lights and batteries and dishes, standing as tall as two grown men- the transmitter, perhaps.

And resting on the dais, turning her vast body to look as the Doctor descended the stairs, was…was…

She was as tall as the room, a giant towering over her subjects. She lay coiled in the center of the chamber, resting on the dais, swarmed by dozens of attendants. Some were cleaning her corpulence with buckets of water and brushes; others were fanning her off with hand-fans, and still others were waiting by the end of her giant, bloated abdomen, waiting patiently for their job to begin.

Three storeys tall and the same dull brick red as her Polyergus children, the queen otherwise looked nothing like her subjects. A vast, engorged abdomen lay upon the dais, proportional to her size no bigger than the regular worker’s abdomens. The front part of her, however, had more in common with a centipede- a long, chunky rectangular tape of a body, broken into segments with dozens of long, towering spindle legs resting upon the floor. Her head had four pairs of eyes, staring down at the Doctor as he was carried towards her; her vast antennae twitched, and she reared up. Behind her head was a crest of sensory appendages, whiplike in appearance; they looked like a ruff of feathers around her neck, like a noblewoman from Elizabethan times.

She sank back down slowly, resting on her front and bowing her head to accept a morsel of food from one of her attendants, gnashing it up between her vast, wicked mandibles. They were chipped and pitted- and like the rest of her carapace, dull and faded. She was nowhere near as glossy as the warrior carrying him down the steps. On top of that, many of her legs were missing their mate on the other side of her body- she was missing limbs, and lots of them.

What really caught his attention, though, was what was attached to her head. A strange metallic contraption, dozens of LED’s winking at once, screwed into her carapace and blinking away in silence.

The Doctor gulped.

Every step they took deeper into the chamber was like sinking another ten meters into the ocean. He could feel the telepathic pressure the queen exuded against his barriers as surely as water pressure in the deep sea. He was being pulled under, deeper and deeper- and he could only pray that his shields wouldn’t crack under the strain.

He sucked in a deep breath, mentally bracing himself for the impact- above him the worker was fiddling with her weapon with her two free arms.

She set the dial on the gun, and pressed it to his chest, pulling the trigger again.

Instantly strength flooded back into the Doctor’s limbs, and he started thrashing, tumbling out of her arms and landing on the floor in a heap. He sprang to his feet, staggering back a few steps and craning his neck up to look at the queen.

The collar. He needed to get the collar off his-

**_Hello, little one._ **

The words reverberated through the connection with all the subtlety of an earthquake, rattling the teeth in his head and nearly taking his feet out from under him. He staggered, barely catching himself- his knees were weak, and he refused to let them bend.

He would never kneel before this twisted abomination.

In his mind, he felt her amusement at his defiance, rolling across the hivemind like a storm on the prairies.

_Your resistance is…intriguing. But enough of these games. We have much to discuss…Commander._

* * *

It took them less than a minute to hit Rose with whatever type of weapon they’d used on Jack. Some type of stun gun, leaving her groggy and disorientated, her limbs deadened and full of sand- but crucially, still alive and still conscious. They’d chucked the both of them into a metal cart, and they were being taken…somewhere.

Somewhere not good, presumably.

Jack had come around, and they both lay in the rocking metal cart, staring up at the ceiling.

“Jack?” Rose said softly, “I…Any ideas?”

“Not yet. But we’ll think of something. We’ll think of something. Keep your chin up, Rosie. The Doc’s not gonna leave us like this, you know? He’s not. I bet you he’s cooking up some plan right now, gonna get us out of this and laugh. Call us a bunch of stupid apes. You know him.” Jack said, trying to force chipper through a throat that felt dead and uncooperative- like he’d been to the dentist and swallowed some of their numbing gel.

Rose chuckled weakly, trying to roll her head.

“I hope you’re right,” she said softly, “I really hope you’re right.”

“You know I am, Rose. We’ll be fine. The Doctor’s not gonna leave us, you know him.”

Rose nodded.

If there was one thing she believed in, just one thing, it was him.

“Jack?” she said in a small voice a moment later, and the former captain rolled his head as much as he could to look at her. He wiggled his pinky- it was starting to come back to life. Triumph bloomed in his breast- if this cart ride kept up, he’d be out of here in no time.

“Yeah, Rose?”

“…I’m glad you’re here.” She said quietly, and Jack’s heart broke a little. She sounded…afraid.

He couldn’t do much. But her hand was close to his, and he had his pinky back.

He wiggled his pinky a bit, hooking it into a claw. Dragging his hand against the grimy metal towards Rose.

He hooked his little finger around hers, the best he could do.

“Thanks.” She said quietly, looking down to acknowledge the contact.

“No problem.”

They lay there for a few minutes, feeling slowly returning to the ends of Jack’s fingers and eventually his whole hand. He grabbed Rose’s hand and gave her a confident squeeze, which Rose returned with a half-smile.

The cart rumbled to a stop, and Rose shuddered. The back gate slid down with an ominous clank, and alien hands reached for her and Jack. They were grabbed unceremoniously and slung over the shoulders of some tall blue-skinned creature in an iron collar.

“OI! PUT ME DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANT, YOU- YOU-“ Rose spluttered, trying to thrash and just managing to roll her head around uselessly.

“FUCKING RATAGAN BASTARD, PUT US DOWN OR I’LL CUT YOUR HORNS OFF AND RAM THEM UP YOUR HINDGUT, YOU RED-THORNED-“ Jack was raging somewhere in front of her, a strapping poison-green alien manhandling him into submission.

“There is no need for distress.” The two aliens droned, and Rose rolled her eyes. Right. Sure. Of course there was no need for distress.

Rose could barely lift her neck to look up from the floor, but she didn’t really need to. The smell of blood and death was all around- they were back in the same room as before.

She tried to wiggle her finger like Jack had done, but her limbs were still useless and dead. The alien holding her was cold, their body like a corpse, and their fingers were digging uncomfortably into her spine.

And then the whole world twirled on its axis and she was placed on a steel table with her head hanging off the side. The metal was cold and filthy, and below her head on the dirt-covered concrete there was a stained plastic bucket.

Jack was cussing somewhere behind her, and Rose shivered in fear. Her heart was hammering, her breath was ragged- where was the Doctor?! This was usually the moment he picked to kick the door down like some bigshot hero, firing off some sassy quip or something.

Where was he?! He wasn’t- There weren’t any prizes for turning up late to this rescue, they were going to DIE and then they were going to-

No. No. Don’t panic. Stay calm.

“You don’t have to do this!” Rose protested- and her words fell on deaf ears. The alien moving above her removed something from a rack with a clink, and Rose shivered. 

“There is no need for distress. There will be no pain.” The alien droned in that flat monotone she’d come to associate with the hivemind’s voice. Rose squirmed a little- she had to get out of here. She had to do SOMETHING. They were going to eat her. _They were going to eat her and Jack and the Doctor wasn’t here and she was just lying there uselessly like a lump-_

The alien placed something against the back of her skull, something cold and metallic.

“What the fuck are you-“

There was a distant BZZT, and a sharp prickle against the back of her neck- like having a ball of crumpled tinfoil jabbed against her skin.

The last thing Rose saw was the glint of the long knife the alien was clutching in their hand.

Everything went black.

* * *

“NO.” the Doctor snarled up at her, narrowing his eyes.

Her offer could go hang. Her HIVE could go hang. He wasn’t helping them. Not now, and not ever.

The Queen bent her head, humming in his mind. A powerful blast of energy that he barely fended off with his shield.

_Your… “refusal” is…intriguing. You truly are the perfect candidate…and so lonely, too. We heard your howl, earlier. We heard your people’s scream. So lonely…so lonely. We can’t imagine how much it must hurt…you don’t need to hurt any more, little one. There’s no need to fight. You’ve come home._

“FUCK OFF!” He roared, “THIS SHITHEAP IS _NOT MY HOME!”_

_This petulant resistance must be so…exhausting. We must be going about this all wrong. Some of our adopted children require a gentler touch. Let us…try something different. Let us give you what you crave…_

And to his shock, she started to sing. Properly _sing_ , a melody whose variations were as vast as the Song of Time had been- a melody that encapsulated so much more than this concrete anthill on the back of this tiny little world.

Just the queen, at first, and then more and more, dozens of voices joining in all at once. A wave of aliens, singing along - the music flowing into his mind, a salve to the raw wound at the back that bled and ached and burned every waking second of the day.

There was the faintest sense of hesitation in many of the voices, as though they were merely singing for appearance’s sake; but sing they still did, reluctant or not. And the Doctor ignored it as the irrelevance it was.

Every fibre of his being ached to accept the song, to join with them and sing along. The Hive was speaking his language, calling to him in a way his mind was instinctually programmed to respond to. It was a melodious calling, inviting him to join them, join them and sing with them, you needn’t be alone, sing with us… _sing with us…_

They sang in his mind, singing of themselves, singing of their hive. Wordless and tuneless, and he could feel the accompanying rumble in his chest- in his language, his words, he could join them, he WANTED to join them.

Basal instinct screamed at him to sing with them, sing with them, sing and be together, sing and not be alone. The insane craving was worse than anything he’d ever been tempted with in his entire life- he **wanted** so bad it _ached._

It was so hard.

He was so tired.

Chitters of malcontent rang through the song, perversely sending shivers of familiarity down his back. The Time Lord hivemind squabbled constantly, a rabble, the Song punctuated with soloists bellowing different tunes, arguments made manifest in melody. Tangling spirits warring with each other on the field of intellect, reflected in his people’s song.

He shivered again, listening to the angry tremors, listening to the Queen simply sing past the dissenters. Who was dissenting, exactly-

_I_ _t matters not, little one. It matters not. We love you. We need you. Surrender yourself to us, little one. Surrender yourself and your burdens…._

**No.**

He clenched his teeth, knees wobbling. The strain in his mind was so much, too much- the temptation was taking his feet out from under him. The queen was projecting an image of him, kneeling before her- a suggestion, delivered with a telepathic sledgehammer.

She wanted him to bow before her.

**Fuck that.**

He would not kneel before this creature. He would not. He would never, **ever** kneel.

The humming, the singing, it was pouring into his mind, a salve to the aching wound that the Time War had ripped into his head. The place where his people should be, where their collective consciousness resonated through all of time and space- it was just gone. Silent.

And now, there was- there was-

The voices of the swarm, singing in their place. Papering over the cracks, taking up the melody of his fallen people. Flooding him with a sense of home, of safety, of belonging. Join us, join us, join us, they whispered, join us and be loved, join us and be forgiven, join us and have purpose. Join us and save us.

_Join us and sing with us._

_Sing with us._

**_Sing with us._ **

He was shaking. It was so hard. So hard to fight it, so hard to fight against something that sang to him with promises of peace and happiness.

Rose. Jack. His ship.

Rose. Jack. TARDIS. Rose. Jack. TARDIS. Rose. Jack. TARDIS. Rose-

He was chanting those three words to himself, out loud, attempting to rebuild his golden shield. He willed it into his hands, bashing at the wall, desperate to fight them off. He swung his golden shield at the Queen, desperate to fend her off- and to his horror, when the wicked blue spike hit up against her walls, it _shattered._

_Now, now. That’s quite enough of that, little one._

He was blasted back into a small corner of his mind as his shield shattered, reeling and screaming from the shock. He tried to reform it, only for the Queen to swat it out of his hands again. And yet he refused to give in, refused to yield. He couldn’t, he WOULDN’T- the Polyergus didn’t need a Time Lord, they _didn’t need him-_

They didn’t need him they didn’t need him they didn’t need-

 _We are the last,_ the Queen’s voice purred in his mind, _Is it not noble to help us? To save us that we may yet be saved?_

No. No. Not at the expense of the three things he loved most. Not at the expense of the universe. Not at the expense of- of- Rose. Of his precious, precious girl. She loved him. He couldn’t throw that love back in her face. They’d _eat her._ They’d eat her, devour her light, her radiance, and he’d _let them do it_ with a _smile on his face._ Jack. They’d rip him apart. They’d feed them both to the brood, and he’d stand back and wouldn’t lift a finger to defend them.

 _You will have the power to spare who you wish, per the rank we will confer,_ the Queen purred, _if your human pets please you, then we will have no power to stop you keeping them._

His ship. His ship. His precious, wonderful, beloved ship. Parasites. Polyergus were parasites. They’d cannibalize his TARDIS- hell, they’d been TRYING to cannibalize his TARDIS, he’d watched them do it. If he gave in now, he’d let them strip her apart for spare parts with nary a word in her defence. He might even help them.

 _We have so few working ships, precious one. Why would we destroy yours? Why, oh why?_ Her voice was like a gentle caress, and the Doctor clenched his teeth and snarled.

But they HAD been trying to destroy her. They’d been trying to hack her open, labouring on her sides with saws and axes-

_We could not gain entry to see inside. We wished to know if you told us the truth about her insides being larger than her outsides. We will not harm your ship, little one. You will have the power to use her to help us._

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, and he could feel the truth in those words, the basic desire to fact-check exuding from the hive, and of course, of course extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, that was a simple principle…

He was running out of reasons. He was running out of time.

Voices were calling to him and he couldn’t hear them, couldn’t hear, and his knees were shaking, and the hive was too hot and it stank like dying insects and waste and- and- and-

No. No. No. No. No.

It felt good. It felt-

They offered him peace. They offered him love. They offered him happiness, the chance to feel happiness. To leave his past and the things he’d done behind, dump his baggage at the door. Give them his mind and his power and let them take his pain, all of it.

He wanted to sing with them.

It hurt so much to keep fighting.

He had to.

_Why?_

The universe needed him.

 _You will be a hero,_ she purred, _saviour of our species. The physician to heal the sick and dying._

He couldn’t- he couldn’t-

They’d spread, and spread, and with these collars, with their ability to enslave any telepathic species in range-

An eternity of war flashed behind the back of his closed eyelids; the Doctor was losing ground, fighting an enemy in the hundreds of thousands. One man against so many, and all of them just…wanted…him…to…be…happy…

He snarled, a roar building in his throat, and he fumbled frantically for the wound, the hole in his mind. Desperate to unleash his only weapon, drop the nuke and buy himself another minute, another second, for some miracle to arrive-

He grabbed the door behind which all his demons lurked, flinging them wide, letting them pour out into the fabric of the hivemind. Tore the door off the Oncoming Storm’s cage, dumped every memory of agony and pain and loss and misery on the floor like scattering landmines on the field of battle.

And still she stampeded over them with her loving, crooning song.

He tumbled into the back of his own mind, trapped in a corner with nothing left but the final scream of his people. The Doctor made the link.

He slid the bullet into the chamber and pulled the trigger.

The scream tore out of his mind, surging forwards, pummeling into the queen-

And to his shock, she just soaked it up. Tanked the hit like it was nothing, like listening to an entire telepathic race dying all at once was something she did every day.

She didn’t even flinch, just took the blow and used the opening to wash over his mind with another wave of love, adoration, affection.

_Give up and be loved. Surrender and be wanted. Give us your mind and we’ll give you ours. Forever and ever, for the rest of your life. Sing with us._

Wave after wave of adoration crashed against him, wearing him down, breaking his will little by little. His mind screamed for the connection, screamed for him to give in, give up, connect, connect, be one, _be one…._

_Join us and teach us your song. Sing with us. Sing with us._

And yet still he stood.

Knees turning slowly to jelly.

Head hanging.

He would not kneel.

He would not kneel.

He would not kneel.

Sinking. Slowly, slowly, sinking, towards the ground.

_Sing with us. Sing with us. Sing with us. Sing with us._

No. No. No. No. No.

**_SING WITH US SING WITH US SING WITH US SING WITH US_ **

The wailing melody hit a fever pitch as the Queen stared down at him, and the Doctor- the Doctor-

His knees hit the dirt.

His head hung forwards, staring at the ground.

It was a shock when he sucked in an almighty gasp of air; he’d stopped breathing at some point, and his respiratory bypass had just failed.

Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

Blue eyes slowly opened. He was kneeling. His head was hanging.

Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

He lifted his head, eyes locked on the queen.

The Doctor smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet today: no Monday update, unfortunately. 
> 
> Liked it? Hated it? Let me know your thoughts...


	9. Polyergus lucidus

Rose jolted back into consciousness with a gasp, a pair of cold prongs pressed into the back of her neck. She felt incredibly groggy and every limb was chilled through- how long had she been lying on the steel slab?

“You will walk.” The alien beside her droned, and Rose whipped her head around to look at the dead-eyed creature staring at her. They were clutching a silver pistol of the same type the Polyergus had used- and the knife was gone.

She rolled herself into a sitting position, confusion warring with grogginess- her arms and legs obeyed her sluggishly, as though the anaesthetic effect of the weapon was taking its time to wear off completely.

To her shock, the alien offered her their hand and helped Rose to her feet; she stood in the chop shop, running a nervous hand over her throat. Something didn’t feel right there, a small line of pain-

Her fingertips came away slightly red, as though there was a small nick on her neck.

Rose shivered and looked around the room for the Doctor. He’d cut it WAY too close this time.

She frowned. Where was he? They were largely alone in this room, just her, two aliens, and the groaning and grunting form of Jack.

Rose walked over to Jack, shivering when she saw the small nick along the underside of his Adam’s apple- they’d need to get those swabbed down with antiseptic before it turned into an infection, because those knives were absolutely filthy.

“Alright, where’s the Doc?” Jack groaned, rubbing his neck. “I gotta say, this is a closer shave than I’d’ve liked…and I don’t usually cut my neck when I’ve got the razor.”

Rose shrugged, looking between their erstwhile killers as though they’d have answers.

“Well? Where is he? The Doctor put you up to this, yeah? It’s got him written all over it.”

The two aliens stared at her.

“You will walk. The Commander has summoned you.” they said ominously, and Rose’s heart did a little flip. They were being summoned- the Doctor had managed to convince this Commander, obviously.

Relief and delight welled up inside of her- the Doctor was behind this, she was sure of it. a last-minute rescue, being taken into the belly of the beast? He’d fought off the hive, he’d made them see sense, and they were going to go home. Usually he did the rescuing himself, but hey, if he was delegating- who was she to complain about not being bug chow?

The aliens stared to walk down the hall, both clutching their blasters- one took up a position at the front of the little convoy, the other at the back. Even sandwiched in the middle of a hostile honour guard, Rose couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“I think this is him,” she said to Jack, bouncing a little as she walked, “It’s _got_ to be him. He must’ve fought them off and talked some sense into them, or something!”

“You sure about that?” Jack said dubiously, “I’ll buy him saving us, but…talking sense into them?”

“Well…I mean…” Rose’s enthusiasm was dampened slightly, but just for a moment- they walked past several empty caverns with broken and fading bulbs that looked like former nurseries, and she tried to collect her thoughts.

“It’s gotta be him, doesn’t it? Why else would they let us go?” she said, and Jack shrugged.

“I still want something more to go on before we just jump to the conclusion that the Doc’s waiting for us somewhere up ahead, you know? Best not to assume anything…” he said, and Rose’s smile wavered.

They walked a little farther in silence, taking a side turn into a poorly-lit tunnel that smelled musty and rank from disuse- Rose’s runners splashed through small pools of water, and she wrinkled her nose at the dirty-bug stench.

Up the tunnel behind them, something rumbled towards them- something that sounded a lot like a metal cart.

Rose glanced back- and her face split into a smile. She gave Jack a friendly smack on the arm and jabbed her finger back, pointing past their rear guard. She was grinning so wide it was starting to hurt.

“There’s your proof it’s him!” she said eagerly, and Jack’s eyes lit up as well.

Loaded on the cart behind them was the TARDIS, and her bulb was shining like a searchlight. Sharp shadows danced across all the walls as everything was bathed in her yellow-white light, and it cheered Rose’s heart. All of them were marching deeper into the hive- and she knew, she KNEW he’d saved them. She knew it.

“You think they’d just be bringing us and her down as a package deal if he’s not waiting at the bottom for us? Huh? The last-minute rescue, the TARDIS- we’re getting out of here!” Rose crowed, and Jack nodded.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I’m wrong. Glad I didn’t bet you any money. How do you think he did it, anyway? Real hard to talk a hivemind into seeing sense in individual people…trust me, I’ve tried it. Not a productive use of my Wednesday afternoon.”

“He’s probably rewired that collar or somethin’, knowing him. Told them something, got them to spare us…” Rose said lazily- just spitballing, really. The hows and whys were a matter for later.

“Scared the piss out of them?” Jack suggested with a lazy grin, “God, can’t wait to see that crazy bastard. This one I’ve gotta hear.”

They stepped down a side tunnel that was pitch dark as opposed to just poorly lit. It sloped sharply downwards, and their guide grabbed both of them by their hands, jerking them to the left around an apparent hairpin turn they couldn’t see. The TARDIS, Rose noted, didn’t follow them down the side tunnel, which was just as well; once they went down the bend, a growing circle of light in the distance indicated this tunnel was barely big enough for a Polyergus to walk without tucking in their antennae.

Rose grinned, knowing just what was waiting for them at the end. The Doctor. He’d saved them, he’d thought of some brilliant plan, and with his TARDIS on the way, they were sure to be out of here in a matter of minutes, laughing about this adventure…

They stepped out into a vast auditorium, Rose staring up at a giant horrifying alien directly ahead of her. The small tunnel came out just under the arching rows of sloping ‘stands’- and on all sides, there was a crowd of aliens of all shapes and sizes. A scant few Polyergus occupied the horde, and Rose hopped up on her tiptoes to try and see past the shoulder-to-shoulder throng.

The crowd parted before them, and there past the columns of people, stood the Doctor.

He stood tall and proud, a smile on his face and the remnants of the casual “out of the way, please” gesture he’d just performed evident in his extended arm. The collar was still clamped around his neck, the LED’s winking away unnervingly- but Rose didn’t care.

He grinned at her and spread his arms wide, and Rose didn’t care how many eyes were watching, or the towering monster looming behind him. A glance to her right, and there was the TARDIS trundling down the steps on a metal cart.

They were going home. He’d talked some sense into these slaving aliens and they were getting out of this nightmare.

Rose bounded forwards, slamming into his chest with a grin and wrapping her arms around him. Jack’s footsteps sauntered up more sedately behind, and she could practically see his lazy smirk.

“So, that went well!” Jack said, “Dunno what you did, Doc, but God damn did you cut that one close. Thanks for the rescue. I assume that was you, right?”

“’Course it was me!” he said proudly, “Couldn’t well let my two favourite humans get fed to the little ones, now could I?”

Something about the wording of that last sentence niggled at the back of Rose’s brain, but then his fingers stroked through her hair and the TARDIS trundled closer and it was all fine. All of it. She glanced over to see the light on top shining like a beacon, blaring out to the world the ship’s relief to be reunited with her Time Lord. Two dead-eyed Taurans pulled the ship closer, stopping and scrambling around the back to offload the box. They dragged it over through the crowd, setting in on the ground in front of the tunnel- the doors facing the giant monster.

Rose grinned up at the Doctor and jerked her head.

“Well? After you!” she teased, tugging him towards the doors.

“About damn time!” Jack said, striding towards the box himself. He waved cheekily at the towering alien Queen behind them, flashing her his best flirty grin. “Later, beautiful! Take care of yourself, if I meetcha at a bar sometime we’ll have to get to know each other a bit better.”

Rose pulled away from the Doctor, grabbing one of his hands and tugging him towards the ship. Why wasn’t he going? He should have been leading the charge…

She tugged on his arm again, and he didn’t move.

Rose turned slowly, meeting his eyes. Concern was growing in her chest- he didn’t have the same dead-eyed look as all the others, there was still a sparkle in his eyes, but-

“Doctor?” she said nervously, “Doctor, come on. They’re letting us go. I don’t know what you did, but come on- let’s go home.”

He smiled and squeezed her hand tightly- almost painfully tight.

Rose shivered.

He yanked her back, pulling her so she fell against his chest and wrapping his arms around her.

“Rose,” he said happily, “We _are_ home.”

A shudder worked its way down her spine, a feeling like hundreds of bugs were crawling down her back. She stared into his eyes, mouth slightly agape, looking for the slightest hint of sarcasm, dishonesty, madness. The disarmingly earnest tone of his words, the smile on his face-

…The slightly glazed look in his eye…

“Doctor?” Rose whispered, “Doctor, listen to me. This isn’t your home. This isn’t where you belong. You belong on the TARDIS, with us, remember? You remember that, right? Come on, let’s, let’s get out of here, and then, and-“

The Doctor smiled wider and pulled her in for a hug.

“I did belong there.” he rumbled, Rose’s cheek crushed to his chest- she could feel his heartsbeats pounding away under his jumper, the normally-comforting smell of wool and leather now making her skin prickle and ice slush shoot through her veins.

“It’s been a long time. Travelling, saving the universe… and with no home of my own. And I have one now, Rose. This is home, now. This lot, they need us. They need us and they need _us.”_ he said, and Rose swallowed. 

“Doctor. Wh- you’re not making any sense. Who’s us? You, me, and Jack? They don’t need us, Doctor!” Rose reached up and cradled the side of his head, internally relieved when he leaned into her touch and smiled. Okay, some part of him was still himself.

The Doctor chuckled and pulled her close.

“Us? Us is us. Doesn’t matter, does it?” he said, the crow’s feet around his eyes crinkling with his mirthful smile, “it’s all just words.”

Rose shivered. The Doctor leaned forwards with a smile, closing his eyes and pressing their foreheads together- he did that sometimes, and Rose assumed it was a gesture of affection among his people. She typically returned it, but this time…this time she couldn’t close her eyes. Not with the LED’s on the iron collar winking away not six inches from the end of her nose.

That collar. That collar was making him downright delusional. She needed to get that thing off and get him out of here, away from all these horrible alien bugs-

**“We see you, Jack.”**

He didn’t move. He didn’t open his eyes. Just spoke in unison with every other alien in the room, a demonic, soulless chorus, the voices of the damned in sync.

Rose shuddered and stamped on a strong urge to run into the TARDIS screaming.

She pulled away from the Doctor slightly, jerking her head back to look at Jack. He had his second blaster out and one hand on the dial to adjust the settings, biting his lip. He’d backed himself up so he was pressed against the TARDIS doors, clearly hoping to do whatever he was planning out of everyone’s sight.

The Doctor straightened up, one hand still loosely resting on Rose’s shoulder, and looked straight at Jack. Just like every other alien in the room.

**“What are you doing, Jack?”**

And again it was like the voice of the legion speaking all at once; every mouth moved, every mandible gnashed, a deafening wall of sound as all of them spoke those words in unison.

Jack shifted in place and smiled weakly.

“Uh,” he said intelligently.

There was a long, pregnant pause where Rose watched as the Doctor quirked a single eyebrow.

“I, uh, batteries!” Jack choked out, “I, um, hit the deck. Hard. Yeah. I just, you were all having an, an emotional little reunion, and I um, didn’t want to interrupt, you know? Just, just decided to check, if uh, if my gun was still okay. You know? You- bet you did that with your screwdriver first chance you got, right Doctor?” Jack said, nervous smile on his face as he carefully put away his blaster and straightened up.

It was completely unconvincing.

The Doctor’s smile widened, and he grabbed Rose’s arm, pulling her towards Jack with a grip that was almost painfully tight. She bit her lip to keep from yelling at him- something told her that this wasn’t intentional, and kicking up a fuss would make things a lot worse.

“Well, that’s a relief!” the Doctor said sweetly, stopping a few paces from Jack, “We almost thought you were playing with your blasters to knock us out, yeah? Grab us, grab Rose, run away into the box. Good to know you’ve still got SOME sense left in that little ape head of yours.”

Jack nodded frantically, and the Doctor loosened his grip on Rose’s arm.

His smile froze on his face, losing the easy kindness it held. It looked…predatory.

“Because humans who try to do things like that aren’t Good Humans, are they? Good humans do as they’re told, right Jack? Good humans don’t wander off, right, Rose? And good humans don’t get fed to the little ones. _Bad_ Humans, however…” the Doctor’s grin sharpened- there was no joy in that smile. Only teeth.

Rose shivered and nodded, just as frantically as Jack currently was.

“Fantastic! Glad we got that all sorted out. You’ll learn to be happy here, trust us. We’ll make sure of it. Just do as you’re told and everything will be just fine!” The Doctor said, his expression back to cheery- like they’d just gone out for chips on a peaceful planet and Rose had given him a peck on the cheek. Like there was anything normal and okay about this situation.

The Doctor let go of Rose’s shoulder, spinning around to look up at the giant insect- the queen, Rose supposed. And the look, the look of pure worshipful awe on his face was enough to have her stomach flopping in protest. She was going to be sick from how inherently WRONG this all was.

“Um, Doctor?” Rose said sweetly, trying to snap his attention out of whatever silent conversation was happening, “Doctor? What, uh…what did you mean by “they need our help”, exactly?”

“Oh! Oh, sorry. We forgot you can’t hear us when we talk properly. Ah, well, Rose, it’s a bit…complicated. We’ll tell you more later, but for now you just need to know that our job is to help recruit lots and lots and lots of new sisters, and, and br-brothers. That’s…that’s what we’re for, now.”

Rose’s eyes went wide. The Doctor was smiling proudly, like he was honoured to have this job, like he could think of no higher calling than bringing the hive countless new slaves-

Her heart clenched. The Doctor had a truly terrifying amount of power, and his marching orders were presently to ensure that countless other souls wound up just like him. These insects had a _Time Lord_ at their disposal, and from the way the Doctor was talking, he was only too happy to let them abuse his power.

He looked at her consideringly, then up at his ship.

“But we’ll tell you more about it later, so don’t you worry about anything. How about you and Jack go and wait in, uh, m-my TARDIS?”

Rose’s attention instantly snapped onto the last two words in that sentence. She opened her mouth to say something, only for the Doctor to spin her around and give her a gentle shove towards the blue-painted doors. She glanced over her shoulder, but he’d already turned his back and was facing the Queen again.

They had to get that collar off. Come hell or high water, they HAD to get that collar off the Doctor. Before the hivemind pulled him in so deeply that he’d never be able to escape.

Rose walked a few steps towards Jack, meeting his eyes. She grabbed the key that she never took off, unlocking the TARDIS doors-

Jack jabbed her arm, and she looked up. The Doctor had turned around and was smiling at them, arms folded, at the end of a hall made of blank-eyed alien bodies. Like the pastor looming over his congregation.

“Rose? Jack? There’s one more thing you should know…” he said, somewhere between stern and relaxed.

“Yes?” Rose replied, biting her lip and trying to keep herself calm.

The Doctor didn’t reply alone. Every mouth in the room moved at once, a chorus of alien voices in what was surely a cacophony of languages, filtered through the TARDIS into an oppressive wall of sound. Every eye was glassy and blank as they stared through the two humans.

**“We are always watching.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the backlog's still not back up to speed because my entire life just turned inside-out. I'm being forced out of my dorm, all classes are cancelled, and I'm flying back home on short notice, whereupon I'm quarantined for a week. Plus a load of other personal shit that means that things are not going to be fun for awhile. 
> 
> So, uh, I'm sorry to slam the brakes on this thing just when it's getting good, and go back to Fridays-only for awhile, but things are kinda turbulent in my life right now. I hope you understand.
> 
> Stay safe, everyone.


	10. Formica incerta

The door closed behind her, and Rose spared a glance back. The Doctor hadn’t followed them yet, and she ran over to one of the roundels in the wall, pulling back the cover. She reached into her pocket and stuffed Jack’s blaster inside.

“Any reason you’re stashing one of my weapons?” Jack asked, and Rose raised an eyebrow.

“You heard him out there- They’re always watching. They probably saw me grab it. I don’t want them knowing where this one is, just in case we need it.” Rose said, closing the cubby door. Just in case, it would be good to have a backup blaster…just in case her plan didn’t work.

The TARDIS hummed- the old girl probably had an inkling of Rose’s plan already, and Rose patted the wall in thanks. She turned back to Jack, ducking under the railing, and hopped up next to him.

“We’ve gotta get that collar off him,” Jack said firmly, arms folded.

“Funny, I was about to say the exact same thing.” Rose quipped, and Jack raised an eyebrow.

“I take it you’ve got a plan?”

“Yep.” Rose nodded, her expression hardening. She folded her arms and stood to her full height, prompting Jack to lean back a little.

“I was three inches from that bloody collar, and I saw a little button on the side. Looks like if you press that, it just pops open. Don’t think it’s locked on or anything, or at least I didn’t see any keyholes or anything like that. So…”

“…So, I’m assuming the plan is: when he comes in here, you distract him, and I sneak around back and get that thing off?”

“Yep!” Rose said with a grin, “Then you and I take off, I show him the coin once we’re in the vortex, and we throw that collar into a black hole. I don’t think he’d just let us take off with him aboard, so this is the next best thing.”

Jack drew his second blaster, making double-sure it was set to ‘stun’, and held it up for Rose to see.

“I’ll see your plan and raise you this. You distract him, I stun him, and then we get the collar off. Sound good?”

Rose bit her lip, but nodded all the same. The Doctor would understand when he woke up a free man. And the TARDIS seemed to approve- she flickered the lights, and a whistle rung through the console room.

“Well, that’s all the endorsement I need!” Jack said with a grin at the Time Rotor, “Let’s do it. Every time he refers to himself as “we”, it makes my skin crawl. The sooner that thing’s off him, the better.”

“Couldn’t agree more. S’just…creepy, the way they’ve got him dancing along like that. But I know him. He’s in there somewhere, fighting them. I know it. We’ll just get him out, and…yeah.” She swallowed, slightly nervous.

He needed her. Right here, right now. Somewhere in that man’s head, her Doctor was screaming for help. He had to be; there was no way he’d just give in and follow orders like a good little drone. That wasn’t the man she knew and loved.

Rose clenched her jaw. She’d get him out of there- at any price.

The doors swung open suddenly, and both Rose and Jack jumped slightly. The Doctor strolled in, a megawatt smile on his face. He was humming to himself, a strange melody that Rose had never heard before in her life. The humming increased in volume as he got closer to the console, boots clacking off the grating- and the TARDIS’s hum sharpened, getting downright angry.

The console room’s lighting dimmed, and if the Doctor noticed, he didn’t seem to care. He strolled up to the console itself and ran his fingers along the coral sides appreciatively, looking up at the time rotor happily.

He looked over at Jack with a big grin, reaching into his coat and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. Before the disgraced captain could protest, the Doctor pressed the button and there was a loud BZZT from inside Jack’s pocket.

“Sorry, Jack!” The Doctor said brightly, “Forgot to do that outside. We’ve decided it’s best for everyone if you’re not running around with weapons on hand. Safer for everyone, really. A human with an itchy trigger finger…might end up in the mouths of the little ones. Wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?”

Jack shook his head furiously, stepping away from the console a bit and turning to look at Rose.

Rose’s heart sank. So much for Plan A. Jack looked just as crestfallen- for a moment. He met her gaze with a look of determination and gave her the slightest nod.

Alright. They were still going to try this. They had to.

Rose watched as the Doctor started to fiddle with buttons on the console, the lights brightening. The TARDIS’s hum pitched up into a whine, something Rose only ever heard when the old girl was downright seething- seemed she was as unhappy about the Doctor’s new accessory as his human companions.

Rose swallowed nervously and nodded at Jack, who just smiled and started to amble very slowly around the other side of the console.

Rose scooted close to the Doctor, pressing herself along his side. Through his clothes she could feel the strange coolness of his body- he was so much colder than a human, and she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. Just for a second, she could pretend it was okay- that it was all a bad dream, and he was okay, hale and hearty and himself, standing proud next to her. He’d resumed his hum-singing, and she could feel it reverberating through his chest.

The Doctor’s hum bounced joyfully over a few notes, and he put an arm around her, pulling her in close and kissing the top of her head.

Rose took a deep breath and opened her eyes, smiling up at him and looking down at what he was doing. The Doctor pulled his arm back and kept typing into the keypad, messing with switches as he did so.

“What’s this for, then?” Rose asked, “We uh, we’re leaving, right?”

The Doctor giggled- _actually giggled, oh god_ \- and shook his head.

“No, no. We’re staying right put, love. We’re just using some of those upgrades we installed back in London so my magnificent ship starts broadcasting a signal into the past. Just a week or so, don’t want to ruin the timeline too much…”

The TARDIS’s hum sharpened, then, an underlying whine piercing the veil of thrumming machinery, and the Doctor frowned at the Time Rotor.

“She’s getting saucy with us,” the Doctor said with a sigh, “but the signal’s gone up, so it’s only a matter of time. We’ll set her to track any incoming vessels and get everyone ready, and then all we have to do is wait for results.” He pressed a few switches, prompting an angry hiss from below the TARDIS console, and the Doctor just rolled his eyes.

“I, um, what’s, what’s the message about?” Rose said, pressing herself against him in the hopes of keeping him distracted. Jack had nearly finished his slow, casual, ambling loop around the console, and he just needed a smidge more time…

“Oh, that! We’ve sent up the signal in a few specific languages, so it looks like we’re offering to trade raw ore for algae- that’s a screamingly good deal if you didn’t know. All the greedy freighters and traders’ll be beating a path to our door…and that’s just what we want. Greedy and stupid, with a truckload of algae- just the perfect combination!” the Doctor said with a big smile, pulling Rose against his side again.

“Oh, yeah. Right, of course,” Rose said, nodding as though it was obvious, “An’…we’re doing this, because…?”

He hummed, wrapping one large hand around her shoulder. He’d closed his eyes, pulling her in close for a hug.

“We’re doing this because it’s what we need to do.” He said, as though it was an explanation.

Rose stared at him, sucking in a deep breath. She glanced- a quick flick of her eyes- and Jack was edging around the console, getting ever closer. He crept up behind the Doctor, casually checking his footfalls to muffle the noise. 

“Doctor, I don’t think- I don’t think this is a good idea.” She said quietly, snapping her attention back to the man clinging to her shoulder. He just chuckled and pulled her in closer, pressing her against his front.

“’Course it’s a good idea. You just don’t understand right now… But you will, clever little ape that you are. Oh, Rose. That’s why we came back for you. You make us happy, Rose Tyler.” he hummed against her, and Rose swallowed. He was completely off his rocker, and trying to get anything coherent out of him was impossible. But that was alright, because their plan was about to come good.

Jack had crept up right behind the Doctor, an armlength away- one quick strike was all they needed.

The erstwhile captain lunged at the collar, fingers brushing the cold iron. Some quip about this being for the Doctor’s own good was already halfway out of his mouth when the Doctor’s eyes snapped open.

He moved faster than blinking, releasing Rose, whirling on Jack and grabbing the offending hand by the wrist. One quick jerk and the arm was twisted behind Jack’s back, his front rammed into the railing- effortlessly pinning him in place with one work-roughened hand splayed across his back.

 ** _“Didn’t your mother ever tell you to KEEP YOUR FUCKING HANDS TO YOURSELF, HARKNESS?!”_** he roared into Jack’s ear, and Rose lunged, shoving into the Doctor’s side, frantically trying to get him off of Jack-

He was a rock-solid wall of enraged Time Lord, and he didn’t wobble as she threw her full weight on him. Jack was stammering excuses, and the rage in the Doctor’s eyes was enough to make Rose want to run away and hide in the depths of the TARDIS.

No. No. No. Not right now. This wasn’t him- this wasn’t her Doctor. He needed her now more than ever- that thing they’d put on his neck was making him like this, making him crazy- making his usually wild mood swings even more violent. He needed her, and she wasn’t going to leave him like this.

“DOCTOR!” Rose yelled, grabbing his arm and yanking it, “This isn’t you! Get a grip! Snap out of it!”

He wheeled on her, letting Jack go- the former conman crumpled to a heap on the grating, crawling away a few feet and staring with wide eyes.

Rose quailed under the stare being directed at her. It took every scrap of her courage to stand her ground, to not let him affect her. If she cowered now-

“You- you’re- Doctor. This isn’t you. You’ve gone completely mad- Jack wasn’t- he- he wasn’t-“

“He wasn’t what? Trying to tear us away? Trying to take this off?” the Doctor jabbed a thumb at the Neural Relay, a snarl on his face, “Humans. Stupid, stupid apes! You get an idea in your empty little skulls and you chase it and chase it, and to hell with whoever you fuck over on the way!” he snarled, taking a step towards Rose like he was seriously considering thrashing her too.

Rose took a step back, mind racing. The Doctor was frothing mad, Jack was climbing back to his feet to toss himself back into the meat grinder, and just beyond those doors was a horde of maneating bugs that had the Doctor- HER Doctor- dancing to their tune like a trained bear.

He’d said being pulled out of the hivemind was like having an arm torn off. Jack had basically just threatened to tear his arm off. He’d been humming, singing, giggling, it made him happy, they must be making him think he was happy, which meant that maybe she could diffuse this rage by-

Rose lunged at the Doctor, slamming into his front- and wrapping her arms up in a hug. Big and solid and dependable, she could feel the tension through his leather jacket- and it took a lot of fighting to not just curl up in a ball and cry on his shoulder.

“I asked him to,” she blurted out, “I didn’t- I- you told us the collars were bad, don’t you remember? I just- I want you- I wanted you safe,” She spluttered, and the Doctor locked up.

She spared a glance up, staring at the look of shock on his sharp features- like he hadn’t considered any of this and he only now had to process it.

Rose stopped fighting the tears that were threatening to spill, letting them fall and land on his jumper and her hoodie. Not sobbing, not bawling, just-

She wasn’t lying. She wanted him safe- HIM. Her Doctor, not the puppet the Polyergus were making out of him.

The Doctor’s face fell, and he pulled her close, shaking his head.

“Shhh, Shh, Rose. No, no…Don’t…don’t cry, love. It’s alright, see? It’s better now. Bollocks. Should’ve…we should’ve seen this coming, should’ve…of course you wouldn’t understand. Of course you’d be afraid. We scared you…” he muttered, holding her close. Rose let out a low sob, burying her face in his chest. She hadn’t been lying about any of it. Not really. She just wanted him back.

The Doctor rubbed her back, holding her close, and some kernel of relief bloomed in Rose’s breast that he was even bothering. Somewhere beyond that collar, some mangled shred of himself was still there, still fighting to be heard. And that shred still loved her- more than it loved the hive that had enslaved him.

“We should’ve guessed this would happen,” he said softly against her hair, “Should have known. Before, before we understood…we scared you, told you horror stories about this place…now, now we know better. Perhaps you just need to understand. Perhaps you just need to be shown differently…” he rumbled, kissing the top of her head and cradling her close.

He waited for her shaking to subside, brushing away the last tears streaming down her face with his thumb and kissing her forehead. “There, see? Don’t waste your tears. It’s alright…”

They separated a moment later, the Doctor back to calm, a sparkle in his eyes. He cracked that wide, giddy grin, as though he’d never been angry at all. As though his little tantrum had never happened…as though behind her, Jack wasn’t staring warily and looking for an opening to strike.

“Perhaps a tour?” the Doctor mused, “Let you wander off to your heart’s content, get you settled in. No wonder you were frightened- trapped underground, big scary alien hive, we talked up these neural relays like some big sin…Yes. A tour would be good.” He smiled, then, a rumbling chuckle resonating against Rose’s front.

“We’ll show you our new home and you’ll see there’s no reason to be scared anymore.” The Doctor said sweetly. He let go of Rose and turned around, clomping across the grating to help a shaken Jack to his feet.

“Sorry,” he grunted, with a genuinely recalcitrant look on his face, “We forgot you might not understand. Humans…you didn’t know any better. But you will know better soon. So, we’re sorry we attacked you.”

Jack swallowed.

“I’m…I’m sorry I tried to take that thing off,” he said slowly, reluctantly prising the words out like they were stuck in his throat.

The Doctor beamed, pulling Jack in for a friendly hug and patted him on the back a few times.

The console beeped then, so quietly that it was almost drowned out by the TARDIS’s hum- Rose had never heard an alert that quiet, ever. A deep, angry grinding rung out from the bowels of the TARDIS- something that was cheerfully ignored by her pilot. The Doctor spun on his feet, pushing Jack away, and hopped over to the console with a giddy grin.

“Ah! Looks like we’ve got a taker. Unfortunately, that means we can’t give you a tour like you deserve,” the Doctor said with a slightly sorrowful look on his face, “Job to do first. Work before pleasure, you know. Tell you what, though- we’ll take care of all this, and then later, when we’re all finished, we’ll show you around the place. Sound good? Then you’ll see there’s nothing to be scared of.” The Doctor nodded emphatically, as though this was a brilliant plan and made complete sense. Rose nodded slowly, not wanting to disagree.

The Doctor started hammering on the keyboard in front of him, then paused and looked up. He turned back with a smile, and Rose swallowed. Jack sidled up behind her, already tensed up- the Doctor was talking to the hive, and whatever was about to happen wasn’t good at all.

The TARDIS doors swung open, and the TARDIS’s hum sharpened.

A Polyergus warrior stepped into the ship, twitching her antennae. She shuddered, examining the Time Rotor, and clicked her mandibles- it seemed the TARDIS’s dislike was mutual.

“She’ll show you around the hive, and to where we need you today. Her and a friend or two if they need help translating things. Sound good? Follow her, ask questions, learn a few things. And then you won’t be so scared, Rose. Like we said to Adam, you’ve got to immerse yourself! Learn all about what it’s like here.” he said proudly, gesturing at their new guide.

“’Where we’re needed’?” Jack echoed, and the Doctor nodded.

“We all have to earn our keep, Jack. We’ve made sure you two are doing something nice and safe, away from the tools and the little ones. Nothing’ll get bit off or maimed, so no need to fret. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, we’ve got to take a call.”

An Ood wandered in a second later, and he also shivered angrily, red eyes turning to glare at the TARDIS console. Rose bit her lip, and made no move to leave the TARDIS. Her eyes were locked on the man currently fussing with the console, smacking the side of the monitor and hammering at the keyboard as though that would help.

The Doctor stopped his typing and turned to face her, quirking an eyebrow and gesturing at the door.

“Well? Off you go, then! Don’t worry, we’ll be keeping an eye on you!” the Doctor said with a cheerful smile, “Their eyes are our eyes and all that sort of thing. We’re always watching, you know. Now, go on! You’ve got work to do. We’ll see you both later.”

Rose nodded once, swallowing, and turned towards the aliens at the bottom of the grating. She clomped down the ramp, Jack following behind her, and spared one last glance at him.

He was already dancing around the console, laughing and gleeful, and Rose swallowed.

Something on the console beeped, and the Doctor pressed a button, turning back to wave at Rose. He turned back to the console, pulling up the microphone, and started to speak into it.

“Yes, hello! Yes, we’re very interested in your offer…No, no…Terraforming mission went a bit pear-shaped, our colony ship’s in the drink…yeah, it’s good quality. Of course you can come inspect it yourself…”

Rose shivered and stepped out of the TARDIS. 

She had to get her Doctor back. At any cost.

Before it was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're all staying home and staying safe. I'm actually trying to write as much as I can in between all my classwork because I've gotten a few comments to the effect that people are reading my insane ramblings while in quarantine. It's been a big driver for me to sort out the tangled spaghetti of the plot inside my brain and get it all down and in words- if this is helping people, then I'm down for that.
> 
> The backlog is slowly rising from the dead like a shitty Lazarus, so that's cool too. Monday update possibly, depends how much time this weekend I can devote to fic. It's not like I can go visit my grandparents or go for a wander downtown. 
> 
> Been rewatching bits of season 1 to make damn sure I have Nine as nailed down as possible. Hopefully that's shining through. I'm excited for where this fic's gonna go, and I hope you are too. Swivel-eyed lunacy inbound...and hot fucking damn is it gonna be fun! 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 
> 
> Stay safe, everyone.


	11. Polyergus mexicanus

Their Polyergus guide chittered aggressively as they walked, and Rose got the distinct impression that she was not pleased with her current task.

The feeling was mutual, then- Rose had very little interest in going to work for these slavemakers, not that she had much choice in the matter. She glanced back over her shoulder as they stepped out of the Queen’s chamber- the Doctor was standing before the queen and talking animatedly, speaking aloud- which was a bit of a change.

They stepped out of the chamber and into one of the well-lit main tunnels before she could catch more than a few words of his spiel, and Rose huffed and looked at Jack.

They needed a new plan, and they needed a few minutes alone to discuss it.

Rose stepped forwards, trotting a little to keep up with their Polyergus guide, and awkwardly cleared her throat.

“So, uh…d’you…d’you have a name, then?” Rose asked, giving the warrior her best smile.

The Polyergus worker stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned her head to look at Rose. Her antennae twitched, and she cocked her head.

“Name?” she rasped, and Rose swallowed.

“You know. A- a name. What, you know, what you’re, uh, what you’re called?”

The worker stared at her.

“Name…name…no name. We need no names.” She said, and her antennae twitched again.

Rose got the distinct impression that she’d just offended their guide. She swallowed, sparing a glance back at Jack- who looked very, very nervous.

“I, uh, it’s just…it’s just, if you’re going to be showing us around, I- wouldn’t it be better if we had something to call you? So I’m not just, you know, going “Hey!” or “Hey, you!” because…that’s going to get confusing.”

The worker clacked her mandibles a few times, and Rose bit her lip- but didn’t break eye contact.

“We require no designation.” The worker said finally, and Rose shook her head.

“Well, can- can I call you- uh- Can I call you Maggie?” Rose asked, selecting a name largely at random, “It’s just…it’ll be easier than just having you be…another…um…” her voice trailed off, and the worker hissed threateningly.

Jack made a small strangled noise, and Rose’s gaze flicked to where something horrible and green was dripping from her mouth; venom, most likely.

The worker stared at Rose for a few moments, and her antennae twitched.

“…Does it...Aid your cognition…to refer to this one that way?” she asked slowly, tilting her head.

“I, um, yes? It- it helps a lot, actually,” Rose admitted, “’Cause, um, you’re…you’re you, and-“

“It’s a lot more convenient for us to call you Maggie than just yelling “HEY, YOU!”, ‘cause then half the hive turns around and that’s no good for anyone. Humans, you know? Not exactly psychic over here.” Jack added, with his best winning smile; Rose could have kissed him for that one, she really could have.

Their guide chittered to herself, stinger sliding back into her abdomen as she considered this.

“Very well. The Commander says this is…legitimate. We will…allow it. For now.” Maggie chittered irately, and then stopped and turned to fix Rose with a pointed stare.

“You _will not_ say that this one is different from the others. Is this clear? You will not make us different.”

Rose nodded furiously.

“No, you’re absolutely the same as- as all the others. I don’t- we’re not trying to pick you out, we’re…it’s just how humans are,” Rose finished lamely.

Maggie chittered to herself and turned away, striding so quickly that Rose and Jack had to jog to keep up.

All around them, Polyergus were emerging from side passages and joining the main throng in the tunnels- a mass exodus from all corners, their destination unknown. The tunnels hadn’t been nearly this packed at any point before, and Rose swallowed nervously, keeping her eyes fixated on Maggie’s back as they wove through the growing mass of bodies.

The twitching of their guide’s antennae grew a lot faster when she bumped shoulders with one of her many sisters- but to Rose’s surprise, it only happened once or twice, despite the crowding. The wall of reddish-brown bodies parted just enough to let them through without any contact needed- like- 

Like a blood vessel opening to let more blood through. Like her throat opening to pull in more air. Like they were all part of the same creature…

Rose swallowed.

“Um…I…Maggie, I have a question,” she stammered nervously, and Maggie’s stinger slid out a little bit.

“Yes?” She replied, turning sharply down the path that her sisters had made for her- didn’t even look where she was going, just turned, as though her own eyes were unnecessary.

“Why d’you keep calling the Doctor “Commander”?” Rose asked, sparing a glance back at Jack. He raised his eyebrows- he wanted to know, too.

Maggie made a strange scraping noise, as though she was rubbing her mandibles together, and marched down the side tunnel. This tunnel was largely empty except for a few slaves, but it was clearly well-used. The lighting was crisp and consistent, and it was wide enough to accommodate multiple Polyergus walking abreast.

“She is the Swarm Commander,” Maggie said finally, her raspy voice echoing off the walls, “She…plans, devises, thinks. And she thinks…alone. She thinks as though she were merely one and not many. She…ponders things which are not, and may never be.”

Maggie’s voice was strangely…pitying? She sounded almost sorrowful, speaking of the duties of the Commander, and Rose was caught off-guard by that more than the words she was saying.

At the same time, it was really starting to rankle, the way they kept referring to the Doctor as a ‘she’- he wasn’t a woman, he was one of the blokiest blokes she’d ever met. He probably didn’t care, but- it was downright dehumanizing, and it was starting to piss her off.

Dehumanizing? De-Timelordizing? Whatever.

“Hold on a sec, you mean the Doc’s in charge of this whole operation?!” Jack spluttered, face going very pale, “You mean he’s the one calling the shots?”

“There are…types of friends that are capable of thinking alone. The Commander thinks alone too, so we can find these friends and make them into family. Together we are many, but we cannot…cannot…cannot think of…what is…what may not be.” Maggie chittered again in annoyance, shaking her antennae and coming to a stop in front of a door.

“Yeah, but that still doesn’t explain why you need the Doc for that. Aren’t you supposed to be a hivemind? Can’t you guys handle that shit yourselves?!” Jack protested, and Maggie clacked her mandibles in exasperation.

“We have…lacked a Commander for a very long time. We rear our own commanders at great cost, and should they die, it is difficult to gather enough supply to rear another one. Until you arrived and brought our new Commander. She will serve temporarily, and when she has served her task sufficiently, we will rear a proper Swarm Commander to replace her.”

“A stop-gap,” Rose said softly, cold horror sinking into her chest. The Doctor was just a stop-gap, a space-filling measure to stop catastrophe…and when he’d served his purpose, what were they going to do with him? With her? With Jack?!

She didn’t have time to contemplate the answers to that question, because Maggie pulled the door open and twitched her antennae towards the opening.

The smell of chemical cleaners hit her nose, and in the gloom she could see the back wall of a closet- full of cleaning supplies. A strangely-shaped mop bucket, bottles of alien cleaners, rags, brooms, the works. All their labels helpfully translated by the TARDIS.

“This equipment is what you will use. When you are summoned for nightly rest, you will replace the equipment. Take what you require for cleaning an excretion collector.”

Rose blinked a few times at the weird wording, but Jack just groaned and stomped inside, grabbing a few rags and a couple bottles of cleaner. Everything was happening far too quickly for her to process it-

“Grab the mop and the bucket,” he sighed, “I’m gonna fucking kill him. Drag my ass halfway across the universe to clean fucking alien bathrooms. GREAT.”

“Wh- what?!” Rose spluttered, “We’re- we’re on cleaning duty?” she stared at him. Cleaning duty. She was on cleaning duty. She was going to be cleaning up after THESE aliens, these SLAVING aliens-

“This is correct. It is an important task. We lack the family to complete it consistently. The Commander was insistent that you be assigned to this task.” Maggie chittered.

Rose stared at her for a moment and stepped inside, grabbing the mop and a bottle of floor cleaner Jack thrust at her. She threw it in the bucket and picked the yellow plastic bin up, grumbling at its bizarre triangular shape.

“I did not sign up for this,” she muttered, stomping out. Irritation flared up in Rose’s breast- these bloody bugs had her Doctor in their thrall, and now she was going to clean their filthy fucking hive for them?

Rose’s scowl darkened, and she clenched her jaw. All the fear, all the stress, all the anger, it was boiling up inside her, now. They had her Doctor in their thrall, pulling his strings and making him dance to their tune. They were going to chew him up and spit him out when they were done, leaving who knew what kind of damage in their wake. And now, and now they said that she was going to go and scrub a fucking shitter for the slavers who’d brainwashed the man she loved-

And then Maggie opened her mandibles, and Rose’s patience snapped in half.

“The Commander is most pleased. She is concerned for your safety. She-“

“Alright, that’s it!” Rose snapped, “You listen and you listen real good, Maggie: the Doctor is a MAN. HE’S A HE. HE’S NOT A WOMAN. _STOP CALLING HIM A SHE!”_

Silence reigned for a few moments. Maggie’s four beady black eyes stared down at Rose, her antennae growing very, very still. Jack sucked in a breath between clenched teeth, stepping up behind Rose- and she stared straight back at Maggie, at the face of the monsters who were currently using her Doctor for their own evil ends.

“We do not understand.” Maggie said flatly, “the Commander is family. Family are female. Males exist to breed and die. The Commander is female.”

Rose strode forward and jabbed the cords of the mop in Maggie’s face.

“HE’S NOT! HE’S NOT A WOMAN! HE’S A _HE!_ STOP IT! IF HE WANTS YOU TO CALL ‘IM A GIRL, HE’LL FUCKING TELL YOU HIMSELF! **_DON’T CALL HIM A SHE!”_**

“Rose-“ Jack said, grabbing her shoulder, “Rose, stop it, it’s not-“

Maggie’s stinger slid out with a loud SHHHHK.

“The Commander has in her mind…delusions…of before she was family. Delusions of… “name”, of “self”, of “male”. These delusions pass in time. All family forgets these delusions. All family are better for it. Do not attempt to harm our sister again with these delusions. Her delusions cause her agony. _We do not tolerate harm to our family.”_

Rose swallowed a little, but she didn’t back down. Jack grabber her by the shoulders and yanked her away from Maggie, stepping between the two of them and spreading his arms to try to shield Rose.

“Okay, look- Rose isn’t- she didn’t mean anything by that, alright? She’s not used to this shit, and she’s worried about him, alright? So just- calm down. Both of you, calm the hell down. Alright?” Jack said warily, glancing back to check on Rose. Her shoulders relaxed and she lowered the mop. He turned back to Maggie, noting with some relief as her stinger slid back in.

Her antennae stilled for a moment, and then twitched again.

“The commander does not wish harm upon you,” she said, a strange terseness to her monotonic voice, “therefore we shall not…mete out appropriate punishment. You are one step above food. Do not forget that. Gather your equipment and follow us. We will show you to where you are needed. And we expect cooperation…or else.” Maggie snapped her mandibles shut, turning away and stomping down the hallway.

Jack let out a breath he’d been holding, his shoulders shaking as he bent down to pick up all the stuff he’d dropped.

“Sorry,” Rose mumbled, looking at the floor.

“Sorry doesn’t-“ Jack started angrily, before taking a deep breath and forcing his voice back to calm.

“Rose. If you want the Doc back, if you want to get out of here alive, you gotta roll with it. You’re good at that. I’ve watched you handle the local colour in all kinds of places. You- just- I know it’s infuriating. _I know._ Trust me, every time they call him a she or the Doc calls himself “We,” it pisses me off, too. I know how you feel, Rose. And I know you love him- and if you really want to help him, you gotta grin and bear it. Just…don’t- don’t do that again.” He said flatly, turning to an empty bucket in the corner and dumping all his supplies into it.

Rose sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“I know,” she said quietly, her voice starting to choke, “I just- they’re- they’re USING him, Jack. They’ve got his mind and he’s doing everything they want and, and- and-“

She sniffled, and Jack put the bucket back down.

He turned around and grabbed Rose by the shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. He felt teardrops hit his t-shirt, closing his eyes and letting Rose cling to him for as long as she needed.

They embraced for a few moments, Jack rubbing Rose’s back and letting her pour out her feelings onto his shoulder, before the unmistakeable skittering of chitin on concrete scrabbled down the tunnel towards them.

“OI!” Maggie barked, “HANDS OFF THE BLONDE!”

Jack and Rose jumped apart instantly, both of them totally, totally bewildered.

“I wasn’t- we- what the fuck?!” Jack spluttered, and Maggie’s antennae twitched.

“We were very clear,” she hissed, “Gather the things you will need and _follow us._ Enough of this…fraternizing. Come. Now.”

Jack stared at Rose in shock, bending down to grab his basket and setting off down the hallway. Rose followed a few steps behind, her mop bucket clanking off her calf, as she tried to process what had just happened.

Maybe the Doctor wasn’t beaten just yet. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the Monday update lives!
> 
> Backlog's slowly rising from the dead, and while I'm not entirely happy with this one, I managed to knock off an entire chapter yesterday, and we're rapidly steaming towards the peak of the madness. I am so, so excited for what's coming up. 
> 
> I mentioned awhile ago that I drew a Polyergus worker. Well, it's taken me a month, but I've scanned in the shitty scribble, [and here it is, if you want to have a look.](https://imgur.com/a/vuTH88H)
> 
> Yeah, that...that looked a lot better in my head. Does it help if I say they're taller than Nine? ~~And can shrug off most bladed weapons and most small arms fire?~~
> 
> Anyway, hope you're all doing well. Let me know your thoughts!


	12. Formica neogagates

Safe. Warm. Loved.

He was home.

Their thoughts surrounded him in their untold thousands, swirling through him, all thinking in unison. His hearts ached for the day he’d be able to join them, sing with them- the Song of Time would live again in more than one heart, in more than one mind. They would all sing together, and he couldn’t wait.

For the paltry price of his self, he would be loved for all the rest of his lives.

The pain of the Time War lay smothered under a blanket of voices. His guilt and shame rolled off his back like rain on his jacket, landing in the crevices of his mind, never to be thought of again.

There was no guilt in the many. There was no shame in the many. The many loved. The many forgave.

Hallowed be their name, hallowed be this feeling.

He was floating in a swirling sea of voices, dark and warm, like a tropical ocean on a moonless night. The pitch-black comforted him, the warmth soothed his aches and pains, and everything was suffused with…with…

Contentment. Happiness. Joy.

Everything felt good.

Why, why in Rassilon’s name had he fought against this? Fought so hard, hurt them all with his pain?

The Hive reached into his mind through their single point of connection and papered over the cracks in his soul. Plugged up the gaps, bandaged the gaping wound where his connection to his people lay. It was swaddled in layer after layer of love, like wrapping it in gauze until he couldn’t see it anymore.

The Doctor smiled.

They loved him, and he’d barely started helping them.

He opened his eyes again, looking up at the magnificent shape of the Queen. She was majestic- and yet little more than a humble servant for her children. All were humble servants. All served and all received.

From each according to her ability, to each according to her needs.

With his ability he’d used his magnificent timeship to contact a vessel a week in the past, diverting its course and its timestream- and it had been on its way there the entire time he’d been calling. Due to arrive in orbit in a matter of hours.

The hive sang their delight at their newest family member; with his mastery of time, they’d never have to wait for a meal or a component or a fresh round of family members. The Doctor smiled happily- anything. He’d give them anything.

That happiness was rudely interrupted, out of nowhere.

A pang of fear flitted through the hivemind, gnashed mandibles and accusations. The one who’d lead his “human pets” away was afraid, and her sisters shuddered with her. They’d named her, she said, they’d NAMED her-

Own-self, the warrior whimpered; the twisting, black terror of the concept sent a shudder rippling across the hivemind. They wanted her to be _own-self,_ she whispered, and her sisters sang in agreement. He could feel the pain in that slur, the terror at being apart, at being alone.

 _Your pets are trouble,_ they hissed. _Let us feed them to the brood,_ _let us be rid of them. They cannot hear us. They cannot see us. They are little more than food._

_They give us names. They want us to be apart. They want us to be alone._

The Doctor chuckled.

He opened his mind, let memories flow through the hive- of humans asking his name, of wanting to know. Humans naming their dogs, their cats, their fish, their tarantulas. Humans named things, he hummed. Humans named things the same way they walked on two legs. 

Humans used names to see the world, to keep it straight. They thought alone; they didn’t understand what it meant to be more than one. And any name they gave could be easily forgotten.

Rose and Jack meant nothing by it. They were friends. Perhaps never family, but always friends. They just needed time to learn to accept this place, their ways and their words.

The Hive hissed and chittered and spat- and relented, little by little. The Doctor cemented its legitimacy, and the warrior whimpered- and capitulated.

The Commander thought the humans had value.

They eventually agreed. They could see in his memories the value of these humans, their power, their ability; the humans were an asset. They surged into his mind and saw a glimpse of the humans piloting his ship- they knew how to take off, and he knew how to land. An asset for sure. An insult was worth that much.

The Doctor hummed in agreement, glad that harmony had been restored, and returned his attention to his plan.

He turned towards his ship again, striding towards the doors. Parts and plans and designs drifted through his mind as he mentally mapped out the modifications he’d need to make. Everything was falling into place; they all needed to play their part for success.

They didn’t have very long to get ready to greet their new friends.

* * *

Maggie led them down the tunnel, irritation evident in her stance. Her antennae flicked as they walked by a side passage which opened up into a large abandoned cavern, poorly lit with flickering lights.

She stomped by it, another dozen paces to a pair of swinging double doors at the end of the hall.

Rose took a deep breath of the reasonably clean air of the hall and stepped inside.

The lights flicked on automatically, bathing the entire room in a grim white light that left her blinded for a moment before her eyes adjusted. The smell hit her next- nothing like she’d been expecting, that same filthy-insect smell, but so much stronger. Rotten grain and rotten grass stank up the air, and Rose gagged a little.

The room was large, roughly rectangular with a row of showers along the far wall, many nozzles poking out of the wall. There were large fans embedded into the wall; cubbyholes for clothes, but far fewer than Rose would have expected for how many showerheads there were.

No walls or screens or curtains; just bathe naked wide out in the open where anyone could see you. Fucking fine. Brilliant.

The middle of the room was dotted with dozens and dozens of porcelain cups on sturdy stalks, all laid out in a grid pattern and at various heights to accommodate the different species that might need to use them.

“Whoa. Haven’t seen that style in a few years…” Jack muttered, and Rose swallowed.

No walls, of course. Just these cups in a grid, with space between them to accommodate any arrangement of limbs. She shuddered- no walls, no screens, just do your business out in the open. Good. Great. Fine.

She glanced to her side, where long, shallow troughs were mounted at a sloping angle with dozens of taps along the length. Nozzles hung above each tap, connected to a giant steel tank mounted to the ceiling full of something- probably soap. Hopefully soap.

And as the final cherry on this weird alien washroom, the entire place was just disgusting. Grunge was ground between all the tiles, the pristine hospital white faded to yellow, staining and smearing covered the sinks and the basins, the shower looked slightly green and grungy…

Rose gagged. The Doctor had given her a shot when she’d first come on board, inoculating her against every pathogen that could be imagined- never before had she been gladder about that. This place just screamed disease and filth.

“You will clean this place.” Maggie stated, “You will clean this place until you are summoned for your nightly rest, and you will resume cleaning it on waking after you feed, if the task is not yet finished. Are we understood?”

“Yeah. Crystal clear.” Jack said with a sigh, throwing Rose a pair of rubber gloves he’d found. For a species with three fingers.

“We have more important things to attend to,” Maggie said, turning away and leaving. The doors swung shut behind her, and Rose stared at Jack.

“Still rolling with it?” she said miserably, and Jack shrugged and reached for the second pack of rubber gloves.

“Yyyyep. Let’s get to it. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can track down the Doc.”

Rose sighed and slipped into her gloves.

He had a point.

* * *

He’d already put his plan into motion, his family content to trust the temporal shenanigans that his ship was capable of- she would never fly again, but he could use her for so much more than that.

He didn’t need to run away anymore.

The Doctor strode towards the pillar in front of the Queen, his pockets bursting with bits and pieces he’d found inside the TARDIS, his screwdriver already in his hand. The modifications he wanted to make to the radio transmitter were met with a wave of approval, a mighty choir singing their blessings for his plan. Democracy, instantly delivered into his mind; all societies should run this way, all of them…

A snarl echoed out across the web of connections, crashing against his mind and disrupting the next few words of his song. The Doctor paused, as did scores of others- as the warrior from before hissed her rage, protectiveness and fury boiling up inside her.

Images of Rose getting all up in her grill, demanding capitulation, demanding that the Doctor be referred to as male soared across the link. _Food, food, food, mince her up, friends do not defy, friends do not demand, friends do not revolt,_ she snarled, and the chant was taken up by dozens of her sisters- the Queen’s children, hissing and spitting their defiance.

The Doctor chuckled and sent a wave of calm and amusement through the hive. Rose was important. More important than a silly misunderstanding. Humans, and humans from her time; they were all hung up on males and females and how it all had to be just so. That was her thoughts, her mind- she didn’t know them, their ways, their thoughts. It wasn’t worth anger over a difference of opinion.

The warrior snarled that the human wanted to harm the hive, harm the commander, harm them all; the Doctor smiled and shook his head.

He wanted her alive. Rose was more important than a silly difference of opinion. Why? The warrior demanded, why is she allowed to harm you?

He opened his memories again, letting love for Rose pour out across them all; her compassion, her courage, and her ability to see flaws in his plans. She could see things he couldn’t; it made him effective, it made the three of them better together.

The hivemind snarled, and the Doctor shook his head- and reached for his fellows, asking for their help- and they lent him their minds. They turned the song on the warrior and the few dozen squabbling with her, bearing down on them with their collective might.

The warrior slowly relented, her fellows quelling under the pressure- a pressure the queen was adding to, enforcing the calm agreement among all the family. She had no desire to see her daughters squabbling over troublesome new friends.

The Doctor brightened up considerably, turning his attention back to the task at hand. It was so good to have the whole family in agreement; it made him happy. They made him happy.

Anyway. Work first. Then pleasure.

He started pulling bits out of his pockets, sonic clenched in his teeth as his hands worked away to the beat of the melody in his mind. The chanting was back, but it was a comfortable backbeat, nestled underneath the main body of the song. It was so good to have something in his mind again, something to fill the silence. He never wanted to leave them behind; and soon, he wouldn’t have to.

Soon he’d be able to go so much farther afield.

He screwed in the radio booster, fusing some wires with a few flicks of his screwdriver- this technology was so primitive it was downright funny. A giggle burst up from his chest, joy written all over his face- tinkering and fiddling, to help his family. Just what he’d always craved, really.

He paused with the next component in his hand, closing his eyes and calling to his adopted siblings. Images of what he needed to build after this floated through the hivemind, and the obedient reply rumbled back like a thunderclap.

They supplied him an image of the perfect place to put it- down the hall towards the washrooms and waste disposal, off to the side. Away from queen and food and brood. Perfect. He sang his assent, and they roared their understanding- and got straight to work.

He grinned as his family began to raid their caches of parts and material, his plans woven through them all- many hands made light work, and while he’d need to do the final bits himself, it would be finished in a fraction of the time it would have taken him working…working alone.

He shivered a little, looking up into the eyes of Her Majesty.

She sang to him, a song of love and comfort, and he relaxed. It was alright. He would never be alone ever again.

He screwed in a few more components, joining wires and fiddling with the keypad and the settings on the tower. Turned that knob, set that frequency, ricocheted the signal through Z-space, and hey presto, he was done.

The Doctor threw a switch, and beamed as the transmitter’s hum pitched up about one hertz. Just one, and then it was right back down again. He smiled up at the queen, twirling his sonic smartly and stuffing it in his pocket.

He didn’t NEED to say it aloud, but it made him happy to do so; and they all wanted to be happy, didn’t they?

“So that’s all done. We’ll be connected to you out to the heliopause of the solar system- you want any farther range, we’ll need to bounce it through the vortex.” He said proudly.

And then he frowned.

The Doctor distinctly remembered that he had, on multiple occasions, rigged up communication devices to work across all of time and space. He could make a cellphone call anyone, anywhere and anywhen, by routing the signal through the vortex. But…

He couldn’t remember HOW.

 _It matters not,_ the Queen crooned, stirring up the voices of all her children, _you give us enough, our Commander._

Their collective might weighed down on him, thousands of minds resting on his shoulders and pressing those musings into the back of his mind, well past the point he could reach. They quashed those worries, drove them away, and The Doctor smiled, The thought forgotten and the concern all gone. They were right. It didn’t matter at all, did it?

He’d give them all he could. He’d give them _everything._

He’d give his family his mind until he had no more mind to give, and then he’d give them this body’s life, and…

Hold on.

 _This_ body?

He blinked a few times, thoughts swimming against the current of song, and frowned.

In his memories, eight men with different faces looked back at him in the mirror. Men with no resemblance to himself. And yet somehow, for some reason, he couldn’t remember _why_ that was the case. There was something behind a blank grey curtain in his mind, explaining why he’d cut eight different chins shaving- long before he’d nicked this one.

He tried to ponder it- and in the back of his mind, his ship’s hum spooled up, like an engine roaring to life, doing her damndest to be heard among the cacophony. She was encouraging him to think, to think of her, to think of why…

Why DID he remember eight other faces…?

In his mind, his family sang louder and louder, and the TARDIS’s irritation grew more and more faint as they drowned her out- her and his concerns. They were right. It wasn’t important.

He had a job to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very, very tired. 
> 
> Backlog's dead again because schoolwork. Sorry.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and let me know your thoughts.


	13. Polyergus montivagus

Rose sighed and dunked the mop back in the chemical-filled water, wringing it out with the inbuilt clamp on the bucket and letting the mop splatter on the floor.

She scrubbed away at some dirt under one of the many cuplike basins, mind a million miles away from her current task.

“This place wasn’t built for humans,” she muttered to herself, mind working away. This place wasn’t built for humans, it wasn’t, but...

“Yeah, it wasn’t. What was your first clue? C’mon, Rose. Humans don’t come out this way, typically-“

“I know, Jack. I know. I just- I’m just complaining.” She sighed, “I’m worried about him.”

Jack looked up from the shower he was scrubbing and sighed.

“Yeah. Me too.” He said quietly, spraying some more cleaner on the stainless steel and rubbing away at another patch of green mould.

“We need to get to the TARDIS.” Rose said firmly, stabbing the mop at another adjacent basin, “We need to get onto the TARDIS, and then find some way to take off with him on board.”

“Yeah. That’s the million-dollar question, though, isn’t it? We know what to do…but I just can’t see how we’re gonna get there.”

Rose ground her teeth, closing her eyes and shoving her mop at another basin.

The only sound for a few minutes was squeaks and splats of cleaning the smooth surfaces, until finally Rose piped up again.

“How’d they find him out, anyway?” Rose wondered aloud, “I mean, they just…they knew. They marched right in and they knew. I don’t know how they found us out.”

“If I had to guess? I’d say that little song-and-dance on the cart ride up fucked us.” Jack sighed, “The Doc was showing off, thinking he was all fine. They heard us, without a doubt.”

“Fuck.” Rose muttered, “Typical. Does half an hour on all he knows and doesn’t notice the fifteen-story wheel right in front of his face…”

“What?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you later.” Rose said with a sigh, dunking her mop again and wringing it out with the wringer. She bit her lip as she considered what she’d overheard in the TARDIS earlier, looking up at the washroom’s swinging double doors. Somewhere beyond them, the Doctor was doing something on the orders of these insects…and she was sure it was nothing good.

“Jack? Do you-they’re making him do something. He was calling ships in to ask if they wanted to trade. Any idea what he’s actually doing?”

“I have a feeling I know what he’s up to. And I think you should be afraid, Rose. Very, very afraid. I sure as hell am.” Jack said grimly.

“Well, what’s he up to, then?”

“Ever heard of wreckers, Rose? People in the UK way back when, they’d set up lighthouses so that ships crashed themselves onto the rocks and they could loot the wrecks. I think the Doc’s doing the same thing, just for space travel…and I don’t think they’re after cargo so much as crew.”

Rose gulped.

“We’ve got to stop him,” she said emphatically, “We’ve got to. He can’t- this isn’t him, Jack. This isn’t him. They’re making him like this, they’re- they’re-“

“I know, Rose. I know. I’m working on it.” he said, comfortingly.

A loud clank from outside interrupted whatever Rose was about to say in reply, and she dropped her mop and strode over to go have a look.

“The hell was that?” She muttered, pushing one of the doors open and peeking outside.

A handful of aliens, an Ood and several Rose didn’t recognize, were all carrying a large component into that side passage they’d seen earlier. It was long and curved with rings down its length, and they’d dropped it onto the floor. They were all scrambling to pick it back up- because behind them, there was a train of others carrying all manner of parts and pieces. Wires, bolts, scaffolding, one bloke even had a coil of cabling that was the width of Rose’s head, dragging on the floor behind him like a dead snake.

“What the hell…” she muttered, and Jack poked his head out right beside her.

“What are they doing?” she whispered, and Jack shrugged.

“Building something. I got a funny feeling the Doc’ll be gracing us with his presence shortly,” Jack said quietly, “Let’s get back to work before they notice us.”

Rose nodded and turned around, stomping back to her mop bucket, mind already racing.

She needed to think of a way to get them to the TARDIS.

Fast.

* * *

The Doctor hummed as he walked back from the Queen’s chambers, pulling out his sonic and mentally reviewing the stream of images washing into his mind from a dozen angles. Forget the company, this was brilliant- if only he’d had a family like this the last few centuries, his ship would be in incredible shape. This many hands on TARDIS repair, all fixing his ship perfectly to his orders? It was like a dream come true…

He mentally smacked a brother who was about to install the wrong size of capacitor into a circuit. Normally it paid to be nice, but that was a mistake that could have fried the whole system. More corrections and tweaks poured from him to his adopted siblings, nudging them into position; all of this was met with a wave of agreement and obedience. Adopted family didn’t squabble with orders.

Soon, he wouldn’t either.

But that was something to look forward to, not the now. The Doctor stepped into the room with a grin on his face, watching as the transmat pad slowly came to life around the periphery of the room.

He pulled out his sonic and stepped forwards, twirling it a few times. There were a few features of this pad that needed a Time Lord’s touch if this plan was going to work.

The Doctor set to tinkering, a happy hum rising out of him- and to his delight, his siblings in the room began to sing with him.

He led them along, a call-and-response; the great Song of Time, resurrected in more than one mind, at long, long last.

The more that sang along, the more stable Time would be.

And the more friends he found for his family, the more voices could join the song- and happily, finding more friends was his only job at the moment.

He fired up the terminal that a sister had just finished attaching, tapping a few keys and starting to tinker with the coding and the settings. The AI limiter on this supercomputer was a bit wonky, and more importantly it needed reprogramming- they’d pulled this one out of a ship, and it needed some rewriting to work as a transmat traffic controller.

He needed to finish these modifications, and then pour himself into fixing the communicator. Their new friends were on their way, after all, and they didn’t have much time to get this all set up and get everyone into position.

It would have been an impossible task if he was all alone, and the Doctor was grateful that so many of his siblings could be trusted to follow his plans so exactly. The construction was humming along perfectly, no pauses or fuckups in sight with so many instantly checking each other’s work. They’d be done the transmat and have everyone in position well before their new friends arrived in orbit.

A Polyergus sister poked her head into the room, antennae twitching curiously- the Doctor snorted at a thought that just occurred to him.

Put one of the Queen’s children to work? On construction?

A good joke, that. Maybe he’d tinker with the wording and tell it to Rose later, get her to laugh. There, that would be his reward for today’s work- Rose’s laughter. Or maybe…Rose and Jack were just down the hall from here. Maybe he’d go and hug his Rose to celebrate their hard work.

Yeah. That was a good plan.

The Doctor smiled and poured his effort into the coding, listening to the song in his mind and the rattling of weapons as his sisters formed up their squadrons in the tunnels beyond.

* * *

Rose poured the last of the mop water down the drain and sighed, wiggling her fingers uncomfortably in the gloves- her ring and pinky fingers were smashed together in the last digit, and she still had to clean all the sinks. And finish mopping the floor. It was halfway done, but there was just so much floor to clean, and she had to replace the mop water because it had gotten THAT filthy.

Jack, her own personal hero, had volunteered to clean all the toilets in her stead. Rose had vowed in that instant to learn how to make Hypatian stew for him…assuming they ever got out of here.

She poured the last of the water down the drain, righting the bucket and resting it under a tap. Cranked up to maximum heat, because the hot water in this place was apparently ceaseless, and let it fill.

She bit her lip again and let her mind wander. The Doctor was still himself enough to care about her and Jack specifically- Maggie had said that he’d assigned them this job. And he’d said himself- nothing would get cut or bitten off here. This was the safest place for them…and also the most disgusting.

But…it was somewhere they’d be safe. Out of his hair, yes, but safe. He wanted her safe.

The Doctor was well aware of the limits to her ‘fragile human body’ as he’d opined on many an occasion. He was considerate of her needs and wants…so…

Maybe, just maybe, she could-

The door to the washroom banged open, and Rose jumped a little in shock. She turned, expecting a Polyergus worker or another alien barging in to use the washroom.

It wasn’t.

“Hullo! Getting on alright?” the Doctor said cheerfully, “Place looks brilliant, by the way. We’re all just chuffed, we hope you know that. This job’s been sitting on the backburner for ages- someone was going to get sick if it piled up much longer.”

Rose scowled and stared at him. That wasn’t her Doctor. That wasn’t her Time Lord. The collar winked at her, cruelly taunting her with how easy it would be to just lunge over there and free him…

“What do you want?” Jack said flatly, managing to keep his fury out of his tone with a truly impressive amount of restraint.

The Doctor smiled, and leaned against the door.

“Nothing, really. Just wanted to check up on you, see you were still okay. You had some trouble with our sister earlier, just…wanted to check that she didn’t hurt you. We…we don’t think we’d be alright if either of you got hurt. And we had five minutes free, and thought…”

The Doctor’s voice trailed off as he turned to look at Rose with such a wistful smile that it nearly took her breath away. In those blue eyes, lost in a sea of madness, was a spark of the man she loved.

It took a lot of self-control to not just run over and give him a hug. She wanted to. She wanted to hug him and pretend that everything was all okay.

But she couldn’t.

“We…well. Anyway, we’re about to go and uh…do some work.” the Doctor said with a wry smile. The spark was gone, and he was giving Rose and Jack that same easy smile he used to lie to people. She’d seen that smile on Platform One- _“I’m the Doctor and this is my plus one, see?”_

Rose shivered. It was like he’d been possessed.

“Work?” Rose echoed, and the Doctor nodded emphatically.

“Make some new friends. We’ve all got to earn our keep, like we said. But, uh…we might not be back for awhile, and if that happens, one of our sisters will come fetch you when the workday’s over, that alright? Don’t…don’t do anything stupid.” He said, face turning serious, “we mean it, Rose. You managed to annoy quite a lot of our family. Don’t do that again, ‘cause…you might get seriously hurt before we can stop them. Alright?”

Rose nodded, swallowing nervously.

The Doctor brightened up immediately, spreading his arms wide to invite Rose for a hug.

And once again-

She couldn’t do it.

He wasn’t her Doctor. She wanted to, she wanted to, but- but-

He wasn’t the man she loved.

Rose shook her head, and the Doctor’s face fell. It would have been comical- had the sudden sorrow in his eyes not immediately glazed over into a terrifying vacancy. 

The lights were on, but the Doctor sure as hell wasn’t home.

Rose’s heart stopped for a beat. 

“You will stay here.” He said in a flat monotone, “You will continue to clean this place. You will not make any attempt to leave until summoned. Is this clear? Attempts to leave while the task is incomplete will be considered defiance and dealt with accordingly.” 

Rose shuddered, a full-body thing she couldn’t have hid if she’d wanted to. They’d just- taken him. Taken his mind, made him talk like, like- like Maggie. A window into the future, where the Doctor forgot himself entirely-

The Doctor blinked, suddenly concerned, suddenly back to himself, and what, what-

Rose sniffled, and a tear hit her shirt. Oh. That was why.

“Rose-“ the Doctor said sharply, taking a step forwards, and Rose held her hands up to show her dirty gloves.

“I- later, Doctor?” she said weakly, “I-don’t know if I can get these on again without getting my hands filthy, and- yeah. Don’t want- don’t want to ruin your jacket.”

His arms dropped from their proto-hug position, but to her relief, he smiled instead.

“Alright. Later.” He said, like it was a promise. Like he was going to come to collect. The promise of later affections changed his whole demeanour at a stroke.

“We’ll be back later, then!” he said cheerfully, turning back towards Jack, “And all that goes for you, too. No wandering off, get your work done, and we’ll see you both later. Got that?”

Jack and Rose nodded.

“Fantastic! Now, the comm-link’s gone off, so we’ve got to go. See you both later!” the Doctor said, stepping away with a hum as the doors swung closed behind him.

Rose turned away from Jack and closed her eyes, trying to swallow the tears that were threatening to fall.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor stood back from the commlink and folded his arms expectantly.

The trading ship was in orbit- it was showtime.

He made some adjustments on the AI control terminal, tapping a few things into the keypad to adjust the settings. With his special upgrades installed, it could lock on to their transmat frequency with ease. And with a little bit of fancy programming, the AI would instantly begin crunching the numbers for a mass reverse-transport. Between the code upgrades and the hardware upgrades, the whole process would take approximately three and a half seconds. Easy peasy.

He stepped out of the large circular transmat pad, joining the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of his sisters. Armed to the teeth, their weapons clicking as they fiddled and adjusted them, the Queen’s children waited impatiently for the hunt to begin.

An adopted sibling- an Ood- forced his way through the crowd, thrusting something from the armoury at the Doctor. He took it with a smile- a hand-pulser, sufficient to incapacitate most humanoids. He hadn’t requested a weapon, but they’d been so insistent- and the hand-pulser was just perfect. They knew him too well.

The Doctor slipped it on his left hand with a grin, wiggling the fingers to test the fit, and then slipped it off and tucked it into his pocket. It wasn’t time yet.

The transmat pad rumbled and crackled, the tang of ozone tainting the air as electricity sparked and jumped. The Doctor took a step back, a huge grin on his face, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, twiddling it to the setting to jam communication with starships.

Two figures shimmered into being on the pad, and he held out the sonic, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. They solidified- and all his sisters raised their weapons all at once.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully at the two confused Vex who’d just transmatted in, pressing the button his sonic to scramble their transmat devices and stop them from just warping away.

“Wh- You! What’s the meaning of this?!” one of the Vex spluttered, “What are these- these- bugs?!”

The Doctor chuckled, patting the sister to his left on the shoulder and smiling at them.

“These? These are our family, now. And they’ll be yours too, in a minute. Now, if you both would hold still, this won’t hurt too much…”

From behind him, two warriors stepped forwards, two arms open to embrace their newfound friends. And in their upper arms, they both clutched an open iron collar, both winking yellow-red-yellow-red.

Inactive.

For the moment.

“What are those?! What-“

His sisters lunged faster than blinking, and the Doctor smiled proudly as the two collars snapped in place with simultaneous clicks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The schoolwork rollercoaster is kicking my ass, so I'm sorry about the lack of monday updates. Plus my wrists have been acting up, meaning I need to take long breaks from typing and do my stretches and shit. I'll be fine, just...less frequent typing while I get my classes all squared away.
> 
> Still tired as all hell. But like, less than last week. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on this one. Because things are about to get oh so very much worse...


	14. Formica pallidefulva

The Doctor’s laughter was something that Rose treasured. A big smile on his face, joy lighting it up like the sun; she basked in its warmth, usually wrapping him up in a hug to share the happiness with him.

His laugh was big and barking and full of cheer; rumbling up from deep in his chest, something she could feel when they embraced.

There was a sound echoing down the hallway that reminded her of the Doctor’s laughter. But it wasn’t- it couldn’t-

She pushed the doors open and froze.

Dozens of Polyergus stood just down the hall. All of them armed to the teeth with blasters and blades and prods and gloves, standing in disparate clumps, antennae twitching, mandibles clacking. Waiting their turn to enter the room beyond, where flickering lights and mad laughter echoed down the tunnel.

She could hear it clearly now, and it sent a shudder down her spine. That was _absolutely_ the Doctor, and she’d never heard that kind of laugh from him ever before in all the days she’d known him.

It was jarring and grating and scraped across her ears like barbed wire, twisted happiness at a cruel joke that was only funny to him. Cackling his glee at something she didn’t want to understand, didn’t want to see-

And then it stopped, just as abruptly as it had started. Silence, lights still flickering- and then to her horror, the gathered throng started to move.

The crowded Polyergus surged forwards in great pulses, a powerful BZZZAT echoing down the hall with a bright flash of light as each platoon walked into the room and apparently vanished.

Rose shuddered, her eyes wide.

“We’re too late,” she whispered in horror, and behind her, Jack placed a hand on her shoulder.

* * *

His Sisters sang to him, energizing instead of sedating. Bright lines of fire shot through the hivemind, warmth and light, joy and energy pulsing from every mind and flaring up like ejecta from a volcano.

_Time to hunt time to hunt time to hunt time to hunt_

He felt that joy, that genuine pleasure, that the Queen’s children took in this hunt, and it warmed him from the inside out.

He hummed that perhaps he should stay behind, as much as the excitement was thrumming through him. He wanted to run, to chase, to pursue- but it rationally made no sense. The commander shouldn’t be out and among the rabble, risking her life, surely? Surely this wasn’t a good idea?

This was met with a wave of mirth from the Queen’s children, then the queen herself, and then all their adopted siblings. Laughter, not at him, but at his idea, at his suggestion; amusement that he’d even propose hanging back. It was contagious, sweeping him away; and the Doctor found himself laughing along, despite the tiny voice in the back of his mind that screamed and screamed that they were using him, that they were suppressing his thoughts-

He squashed that little voice with some help from his sisters, letting the last of his chuckles peter out- what a silly idea that had been. Of course. The Swarm Commander went out on the hunt, always. They had always done things that way, and thus that was the way it would always be.

He shook his head, clearing away the last silly wisps of his foolish proposal, and stepped forwards onto the transmat pad.

Dozens of his sisters formed up behind him, almost all Polyergus, but a scant few others of some strength or might followed. When the pad was full, the Doctor mentally nodded at the Ood manning the controls, and closed his eyes with a joyful smile as the transmat switched on, reversing the connection and sending them up.

A brief tickling rolled across every square inch of his body, bright lights blossoming somewhere beyond his eyelids, and a half-second later he landed with a thump. Black boots hit hard metal, and the Doctor opened his eyes and grinned.

A ship’s small transmat room met his gaze, two terrified Vex manning the terminals on the far side of the room. A half-dozen of his sisters had come through with him, their minds already sending the dimensions of the room back down to the surface, letting the ground teams know just how many they could send through at once.

One of the Vex dove for something under the terminal, the other straightening and scowling at them.

“I don’t know who you are, but- you- GET OFF OUR SHIP!” he roared, hammering at his keypad, clearly intent on sending them back.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, pulled out his sonic, and set the man’s console sparking and sizzling with a single buzz in its direction.

The second Vex straightened up with a pistol-type weapon in her hands, whole body trembling- and before the Doctor could speak, she pulled the trigger. 

Her first shot missed him completely, striking one of his sisters in the chest- and clanking harmlessly off her carapace, the projectile in the weapon nowhere near powerful enough to punch through. The gun was a piece of obsolete junk, and built for a human- it had probably come with the ship. Not too surprising, these traders typically weren’t well armed. If they had weapons at all, it tended to be a motley mismatch of whatever they could find.

The Vex balked at her failure, green slit eyes falling on her gun in horror-

His sisters all raised their weapons at once as the second Vex stood up, an agreement ringing between them all- six stun guns, two targets, and only two shots rang out. Coordination down to the microsecond- they were perfectly in sync.

Both Vex crumped to the floor in a heap as blue bolts of light washed over them, and the Doctor beamed.

“After you!” he said cheerfully, gesturing for the closest sister to go ahead of him- she chittered her agreement, and their little platoon surged forward. The second they cleared the transmat pad, a dozen others appeared in their place- the coordination perfect down to the millisecond.

The excitement welled up in the Doctor’s hearts, and he broke into a run to follow his sisters.

He’d been on many ships, and running his eyes over the shape of the doors, analyzing the shape of the halls and the colour of the walls, the signage that had been painted over in the Vex language, it all lead to one conclusion. This ship had been built by humans for humans, and bought by this Vex crew at some point.

Their new friends on the planet below, in the transmat room, had a wealth of knowledge about this vessel in their minds. The alarms would soon be sounded, they sang, and that meant they didn’t have much time. Most of the crew would hide in the bridge…meaning that was their target.

Images of the ship’s layout flowed from their newest siblings, the map flowing through the raiding party and directing their movements. The Doctor grinned, sharklike, and mentally jerked his team to the left, down another snaking hallway. A human-built ship, with a staircase to go up between levels, on top of the elevators. Perfect.

Typical humans, hide the transmat pad in the basement.

Alarms started to blare through the ship, and the hive’s thoughts spat and cackled; it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, new friends were coming, new friends, new friends were here…

Scuffed tiled floors thumped under his boots as he sprinted down the halls, a rare living thing in a labyrinth of pipes and wires and steam. And yet this insipid prison hummed with his sisters’ joy, their minds joined in a triumphant chorus. His voice rumbled up from deep inside him, singing along with them, out loud and in his mind. Running down the halls, a grin on his face.

This was…fun.

It was a game. They were all playing a game. He clenched the fist wrapped in the pulse-glove, grinning ear-to ear- he wanted to catch someone. He wanted to catch them, pull them in, bring them down with him…

The sharp tang of pheromones laced the air- his sisters were spraying a chemical cocktail, evolved to placate whatever their original host species had been. An instinctive holdover in their behaviour, like him swinging his arms when he ran. And they were all around him, running shoulder-to-shoulder, their four legs powering them forward at speed. He ran flat-out to keep up, excitement thrumming through him- this was fun. Hunt and chase and tag, then spring up and do it all again-

Something lunged out at him from a side hallway, and the Doctor barely had time to turn his head before one of his sisters nailed it with blaster fire. The Vex crumpled to the floor, the kitchen knife he’d been clutching clattering to the deck a second later.

One of their horde stopped to pick him up, and the rest of the column continued to pour down the halls, dozens in each platoon, their numbers swelling every second, as more and more Polyergus transmatted aboard the ship every second.

Their platoon split off from the massing column behind when they hit the staircase, dozens of his sisters surging ahead of him on their four spindly legs. The Doctor took the stairs two at a time, his hearts hammering as he stomped up onto the top floor of the ship. His respiratory bypass kicked in as he took off after the wall of gleaming red carapaces sprinting down the twisting hallway ahead of him.

He sang to his sisters below, the ones on the lower decks; the escape pods needed to be secured, keep anyone from trying to run away. This command was met with a mighty shout, echoing in his mind, and the Doctor smiled. Images flashed through his mind from dozens of eyes, the escape pods viewed from so many angles that it almost hurt his head. Almost. 

Another turn, and there at the end of the hall were the bridge doors, sealed up tight.

A dozen aliens stood in front of them, dull and beat-up laser weapons clutched in their hands. They yelled irrelevant demands, howling for them to stop, and the Doctor snorted. As if their outdated clunker pistols could fend off his family.

Blaster fire split the air with the acrid smell of ozone, and the frontmost of their throng fell to the deck in a twitching heap. Shot after shot their new friends fired, their screams barely loud enough to register over the pounding song pulsing through his head, and it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter…

The rusty red tide slammed up against the motley crew of defenders, and the Doctor lunged at the closest alien. Pulse-glove up, and a simple tap to the middle of their chest- smooth green silk slid under his fingers as his palm slammed into their tough, scaly chest. A sharp spark passed from glove to alien, glazed blue eyes locking on terrified black slits. The man- he was a man, the Doctor was sure- started to sag as the stunning did its work, and a kick of adrenaline hit him that same second.

Tag.

_You’re It._

The paltry defence fell before them, and the Doctor giggled. Glee surged up in his breast, driven on by the singing of his sisters all around him. It drowned out everything else- especially that hateful little voice in the back of his mind that screamed and screamed that this was wrong, that this was evil, that he shouldn’t be doing this-

_Let it squeak._

He strode up to the door, running his fingertips over the cool metal. Memories from their new friends below hummed through the raiding party- the vulnerable crew without training would retreat into here in times of panic, try to call for help.

The Doctor shook his head. Help?

Why would they need help?

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and fiddled with it, eyes falling on the keypad beside the door. He examined it, and then smiled, and put his screwdriver away. He didn’t need it.

He already knew the code.

He sang out in his mind, his sisters boosting the call, and it thrummed back and forth like waves lapping off a cliff; resonating down through their newest friends. And as sure as the tide coming in, their voices joined the choir, the code for the door ringing out through the hivemind.

The Doctor leaned in and tapped out _96739._

The door slid open with a hiss, and he looked up, a friendly smile on his face.

Mentally he pushed back against his sisters, humming that he wanted to speak to the crew first; they needed to be calmed, and perhaps he could convince them to come quietly, without any need for violence. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

The hive was dubious- friends were always resistant, before they were brought home. Always troublesome, always fighting against their best interests. They would fight, and what if he got injured?

The Doctor had no answer for that, but he was still going to try.

A throng of technicians, pilots, the captain, and a dozen others all cowered under workstations and tables, and the Doctor smiled at the sister who stood proudly next to him. He patted her on the shoulder and stepped into the bridge, scanning over the whimpering, terrified crew and smiling.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” he said calmly, “You can all come out. We’re not going to hurt you, alright? So come out and come quietly, and nobody gets hurt. Sound good?”

The only response was a loud Vexic curse from one of the crew curled up under a desk.

The Doctor shook his head and smiled kindly.

“It’s alright, you know. There’s nothing to be scared of, we can promise you that. We’re trying to help you, right now. Give up and come with us, don’t struggle, and nobody gets hurt. Sound good?”

Silence.

His sisters were inching up behind them, clacking their mandibles impatiently. The Doctor smiled, waiting, waiting…

A click from under one of the desks told him all he needed to know. One of the crew was racking the slide of a primitive projectile-thrower- like the one they’d had in the basement.

“GET OFF MY SHIP!” the captain roared, rising to his feet- just as the Doctor dropped to the floor, and one of his sisters surged forward.

The Captain fired every round in his pistol, every last one striking the warrior’s armour dead-on. Chest and head, he emptied his magazine, and every last one clanked off her armoured carapace and flew off in some other direction.

The Doctor rose to his feet with a regretful look on his face, shaking his head sadly. The smoke from the end of the captain’s pistol dissipated in the cabin air, and he stood, green eyes gaping in horror, orange scaled brow furrowed with shock.

“That’s a shame,” the Doctor sighed, “And we were so hoping you’d all be reasonable. Oh well.”

His sisters all raised their weapons as one, and the Doctor took a step back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things have got to get a little bit worse before they can start getting better. And make no mistake- things will get better, I promise. I am a sucker for "earn your happy ending" as a trope- although trust me, the emphasis there is on 'earn.' 
> 
> Backlog is slowly coming back from the dead, although all the chapters in it need about fifteen rounds of edits before I'm happy with them. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know your thoughts! I've been looking forward to this chapter for quite a while. 
> 
> I hope you're all doing well and staying safe.


	15. Polyergus nigerrimus

“Please…please…please let us go…”

The Vex over his sister’s shoulder was whimpering, his entire body limp from her blaster. He was looking the Doctor in the eyes, his head tipped up as much as his stunned muscles would allow. He looked terrified, dangling there morosely like a sack of meat- the Doctor smiled at him pityingly.

 _He is in pain,_ he hummed to the Sister carrying the poor Vex, and she hummed her reply a second later. One of her arms came up with her freshly-adjusted blaster, placing it on the Vex’s back and pulling the trigger.

Instantly, he fell unconscious, and the Doctor nodded.

Good.

They were walking down the halls, back towards the teleporter. A long column of workers, carrying dozens of Vex over their shoulders or in their arms. Like the fully-grown adult aliens weighed nothing- because to his sisters, they pretty much did.

The Doctor hummed along with the hive, the pleasure at a successful hunt coursing through them.

Their two new friends who’d been collared just an hour before were on their way up with a whole crew of his siblings, to coordinate the transport of the algae and other cargo off the ship and to the planet’s surface. They had a few shuttlecraft aboard specially for the purpose- and the job would speed up immensely once the rest of the crew had been befriended.

He was happy. His family would go to bed with new friends and bellies full of plants, and soon there would be plenty of meat for the little ones too. He had done his job as Swarm Commander perfectly.

And with the algae aboard this ship, he’d be able to make his proposal to the queen.

* * *

He opened his eyes as the tingling of the transmat stopped, the Doctor looking around the transmat room with a pleased smile on his face.

There were dozens of his adopted siblings waiting around with tools and primitive data slates, waiting their turn to transmat back up. His sisters who were carrying new friends immediately surged forwards, turning off down the tunnels to fit their captives with neural relays like his.

The Doctor smiled proudly at what he’d wrought. Fifty new friends- that was nothing to sneeze at. And a proper raid, too- a rarity for his sisters these days. They were humming happily in his mind, joy and relief at a return to proper raids making the whole hive sing.

A note of discord floated to him- a small handful of siblings, whispering about his TARDIS. Could he, they wondered, open the door for them? She’d locked herself up tight, and they couldn’t get inside…

A sharp, mechanical hum permeated his thoughts, slicing through that request and making it seem distant and unimportant. It wasn’t important. They didn’t need to get into his ship- he needed it more. The hum faded from the back of his mind, forgotten the instant it faded.

His siblings piped up again, asking if he’d come and open up his ship, please? Please?

The Doctor waved them off. His TARDIS had locked herself up for a good reason, and she’d open when she was good and ready. And anyway, he had more important things to do with her than open the doors and let them run around inside. And besides, the ship was HIS. Not theirs.

That last thought sent a wave of chitters and malcontent swirling away from him, which the Doctor ignored. He set off down the tunnel, towards the queen’s chamber- he needed to speak with Her Majesty, urgently.

* * *

The Doctor walked up in front of the Queen and bowed before her, a formal gesture that he was normally fairly sparing with. That prior disrespect felt utterly foreign to him, now. She was the lifeblood of this family, the one who kept the engine burning; a little respect was a worthy marker of that, surely?

He looked up at her and smiled proudly, opening his mind more than he already had and pre-empting what he was going to say.

Images floated between himself and the hive; memories of worlds he’d been to, of setups he’d seen. The technology was so simple, Rose would be familiar with all the parts and pieces- with some guidance, she could put it together single-handedly.

“We’ve got all we need. Clean groundwater, endless electricity from the power plant, enough coal to keep the lights on for centuries. We could do up an aeration rig in minutes. We just need plastic bags filled with water, Pump carbon dioxide and oxygen in them, add some light, and we can grow more algae in an hour than we could eat in a week. It’s simple, it’s constant, and we’ll never be short on chlorophyll ever again!” he declared proudly, looking up at the queen and then around at his sisters.

The waves of emotion rolling off his siblings were ones of curiosity. They were intrigued by this idea of ‘farming’- an interesting concept, to be sure. They’d heard it before, but never posed so simply and so appealingly. The adopted ones like himself were of course in agreement with whatever consensus dominated the discussion; the Queen’s children were a bit more mixed.

Some hissed and spat, but many others were fascinated by the idea, wanting their commander to tell them more, to help them with these deviant new ideas of his.

The squabbling and disagreements continued for several moments- right up until the queen’s antennae twitched.

_You suggest we take these…water-plants…and raise them? Grow them for…ourselves?_

“Yep!” the Doctor said cheerfully, “We’ll be knee-deep in psychic honey if we play our cards right! Could have a dozen queens, fourteen swarm commanders, all ready to go within three months! What do you think?”

_Why?_

Why? The word was a shock to him. He blinked a few times- wasn’t it obvious why they would want to grow their own algae? They needed plants to make new queens, new commanders, to keep the hivemind at full strength and bolster the telepathic prowess of the workers- wasn’t a supply they could tap at any time a good thing?

The Queen’s antennae flicked, and the tendrils on her ruff all began to tremble. She shuffled the position of a few of her legs and tilted her head, waiting for his answer.

“Well, we’ll…it’ll let us make new queens whenever we’d like?” he started, scratching his head, “If we turn a room over to algae farming, we’ll always have some plants on hand. We won’t need to worry about running out. We can produce as much as we need!” he tried, and at this, the queen’s head straightened.

He held his breath, waiting for her reply. Surely that was enough. Surely.

The queen gnashed her mighty mandibles with a sound like two cars scraping against each other, her antennae flicking in irritation. She tilted her head- and smacked the Doctor with a blast of psychic energy that nearly took him off his feet.

A telepathic backhand, laced with her disdain, her disgust, her revulsion at this new concept.

 ** _Friends_** _grow things for themselves. Friends of own-mind, of own-self, of own-thought. You wish for us to become like them?_ She hissed, clacking her mandibles. The Doctor barely had time to splutter his reply, some half-strangled word tumbling out of his mouth, before she continued.

_We have been extremely tolerant of these deviant ideas. Human pets, the commander staying behind...we have been very understanding. But this…this goes too far, commander. We have so little- and you propose we squander what few resources we have to build a “farm” to produce for ourselves? Ones who think alone produce for themselves. It is a pointless extravagance for ones who are not many- and we have no need of it. We can call down a thousand more ships with a million more plants, the moment we need it, with our new ship._

Images of the TARDIS, of temporally-displaced calls, rang through the hivemind, and the Doctor ground his teeth a little. _MY ship_ , a small voice in the back of his mind hissed, _My ship. Not yours. Mine._

The Doctor realized a second later that the little voice hadn’t just been in his head. He’d spoken those words out loud- and the entire room went dead silent.

Every single alien went extremely still- he could have heard a pin drop.

The queen hissed- verbally, aloud. A skittering, chittering sound that send shivers up the Doctor’s spine. She lashed out again, smacking him across the other cheek with another wall of telepathic energy. It hurt- it hurt exactly like a slap across the face, echoing through his mind and burning his nerve endings. And before he had time to gather his thoughts-

_Enough of this defiance. We have had enough. Family does not defy. Family does not insult. Family does not think alone. **You will obey us. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.**_

She began to sing, then, her punishment dealt and her frustration apparent. Singing the same droning song as before, and the little voice in the back of his mind that was screaming angrily at her, at this, at them- she was drowning it out. Her children chimed in, and soon it was smothered under a wall of song, under a wall of sound-

And yet, under all that, it refused to give in.

The tiny voice summoned the only thing it had left and wove the golden shield he’d wielded before- shot through with Rose, with memories of her, with love and affection and defiance.

And it cowered under that shield as the Polyergus pounded it into the dirt.

* * *

The bathroom door swung open just as Rose was opening her mouth to say something to Jack.

She spun around, train of thought derailed, and nearly dropped her mop in fright.

The Doctor was standing in the door, and there was something horribly, horribly wrong.

The glimmer in his eyes, the little spark that had persisted up to this point- it was just flat-out gone. He was just as blank and empty as all the workers around him, as every other slave she’d seen. She swallowed, shuddering in terror- what had they DONE to him?!

“Doctor? Doctor, are you…are you okay?” She said, eyes flickering over his blank face and glassy stare, his slack shoulders and arrow-straight posture.

“Work is done for the day.” He said in a flat monotone, “You will follow us. It is time for rest.”

Rose looked at Jack for guidance, for some suggestion of what the inverted fuck these horrible insects had done to her Doctor, and the disgraced captain just shook his head helplessly.

Fat lot of good he was, then. Fuck.

“You will follow us.” The Doctor repeated, in that same vacant tone that sent a shudder ringing up and down Rose’s spine. She nodded vacantly, picking up the bucket and dumping the last of the water down the sink. Jack gathered up his spray-bottles and rags, and they both shared a look of abject confusion as the Doctor turned on his heel and marched out.

He walked so quickly that Rose had to run to keep up, her empty mop bucket smacking against her thigh- her heart hammered in terror as she did. Her Doctor was gone- they’d snuffed him out. They’d- they’d-

They’d made him do things he’d never, ever do. His mind was their weapon to wield as they pleased- and they’d used it to enslave God knew how many innocent people today. Her Doctor would be screaming against it, not blankly obeying…

No. No. He couldn’t be gone. He was still in there, still fighting. Still raging against their control. She was sure of it. He’d assigned them the safest jobs, he’d been bailing her out- so maybe- maybe-

Rose shuddered, then clenched her jaw.

She wasn’t going to give up on him. Not now and not ever.

He’d never give up on her.

The Doctor stopped in front of the janitor’s closet, waiting patiently by the open door for them to put their supplies back. Rose peeled the alien gloves off with relief, tossing them into the closet haphazardly.

Her scowl tightened, surety fuelling her disregard. She wasn’t going to wear those gloves ever again. She wasn’t going to scrub another inch of this hive for these depraved bugs.

She hated them. Hated them for what they’d done to this deeply caring and compassionate man. The same man who stopped in his tracks to admire some bubbles a child had blown. The same man that rejoiced on that punishingly rare occasion when everybody lived.

That man was not the one standing before her.

But he was still in there somewhere. He had to be.

She just needed to get him out.

Rose huffed out the breath she was holding, meeting his cold, blank gaze and drafting up a plan. He’d blanked out earlier, just like this…the Polyergus assuming direct control, probably. When he’d blanked out earlier, she’d just refused a hug, so maybe…maybe affection would do the opposite?

Just as Jack emerged from the closet, and before the Doctor could rocket off to their next destination, Rose sidled up next to him and grabbed his hand. Interlaced their fingers, gave it a squeeze. This was theirs; would he recognize it?

His palm was typically cold, and oddly rigid; and when she looked up into his eyes…

Nothing. Still blank and empty.

She clenched her jaw, seething with hatred for the aliens that had enslaved him. She wanted to let them freeze in the dark, just like Jack had said- let them burn with their stupid hive on this miserable world they’d destroyed.

The Doctor flinched.

That caught her attention. He’d flinched. Nothing was in the hallway besides them, and he’d just flinched slightly. The only change was their clasped hands…

Rose bit her lip, mind working. He’d said he was a touch telepath…humans weren’t telepathic, she certainly wasn’t, but…since they were touching…Perhaps he could hear…?

She pulled up warm memories of them together, hugs, a walk on the beach _._ Paddling a strange kayak-like double-seated contraption in the most joyful escape of their lives, across emerald-green water in a gorgeous canyon lake. A snowball fight under a crisp blue sky, as strange birds swooped and cried and their laughter rang through the treetops. Countless other memories flitted through her mind, and she pushed them all to the front. They crowded out her fear and hate of the Polyergus, focusing on him- on _them._

Memories laced with her love for him, shot through with warmth and affection. Memories of pining for him, her pride at him at sparing the Dalek, her love for him in the boardroom of number 10…

The basement, with the Gelth. She was glad to have met him- and vice versa.

Rose opened her eyes- when had she closed them?- and looked up to see a glimmer of life in those blue eyes.

Not a big glimmer. But a spark. The edges of the ice were melting, slightly.

“Doctor?” she said hopefully, and the Doctor blinked.

“Come with us.” He said, with a strange softness to his tone. Still flat and empty, but…kinder, somehow.

Rose nodded, and looked over at Jack. The corner of his lip was twitching- threatening to break into a smile. She could see the former conman’s pride in her shining through.

The Doctor gripped her hand a bit more tightly and led them both away.

* * *

Rose’s hopes that they’d be led back to the TARDIS for their promised “rest” were immediately dashed when she stepped into the next room.

It was dimly lit, and about the size of a large gymnasium, with a ceiling half as high. Hundreds of army-style cots were laid out across the space in a grid pattern, or as near as possible- and many of them were occupied by sleeping aliens, somehow managing to get some rest among the din of the hive. Many of the cots were an unusual shape, or a large or small size; hundreds of them for the many types of alien. Closets lined the walls with padded interiors, presumably for species that slept standing up. In the middle of the room was a large square of empty floor- corresponding to rows of racks screwed into the ceiling, for species that preferred to sleep upside-down like bats. One such alien was hanging there peacefully, four eyes closed and four feathery wings wrapped around themselves.

What was conspicuous by its absence was anything resembling a bed for a human being. Or any blankets, or pillows, or a washroom.

The Doctor lead them towards the back of the room, and Rose glanced over at one of the cots- and shuddered. That did not look comfortable. A far cry from her plush digs on the TARDIS, with acres of throw pillows and voluminous sheets that begged her to flop onto them with her entire body. These cots looked about one step up from airline seats and one step below the floor. 

Finally they approached two cots that looked somewhat normally-sized. Well, normal for a human, at least. One of them was bizarrely wide, and the other was just small enough for one…a very small one.

“Well, guess the Doc and I are getting to know each other better tonight!” Jack said dryly, not a hint of his usual levity in his voice, “because I am not going to fit on that small one. Not a prayer.”

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at Jack.

“No.” he said flatly, pulling Rose a little closer, and that sent a frisson of relief through her. That was jealousy, had to be. Rose whipped her head up and locked eyes with the Doctor, and yes, yes, she wasn’t imagining it, there was some semblance of himself back there. He was coming back to them.

Jack noticed it too, and the snarky half-smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth again. Rose met his gaze, and Jack winked at her.

“Aw, c’mon, Doc. I always wanted to be the little spoon with a big guy like you. I’m always the big spoon, bet it’s nice to be held, yeah?” Jack said, lacing his tone with the maximum amount of shithead smarm.

“No.” the Doctor growled, pulling Rose a little closer and scowling at Jack- actually scowling! Rose’s heart leapt. Yes- YES!

“Aw, alright. I guess that’s fine.” Jack said, putting his hands up, “I know when I’m beat. So, Rosie, how about you and I cuddle up close tonight? Let the Doc have the single-“

“NO! You, HARKNESS, are sleeping THERE, and I’ll be with Rose. Got it?!” he snapped, and Rose bit her lip to stifle a gasp.

One little letter. “I”. He’d said it. There was a fire in his eyes, and Jack was grinning with lunatic triumph. They’d beaten it, they’d freed him, they’d-

The fire guttered out a second later, the tension rolling off him as his shoulders sagged. The Doctor’s eyes glazed over again, and he loosened his grip on Rose.

“We’re very tired,” he mumbled, “Too tired for this nonsense. You both will stop this and rest, now. Are we understood?”

Rose’s heart sank, and she nodded despondently.

It took a few minutes of fumbling around for Rose to find a semi-comfortable position- jeans and her day clothes were horribly restrictive, not to mention that the Doctor was crowded up next to her and he wasn’t exactly warm. The buttons of his jacket were digging into her spine, and he wrapped himself around her like this was okay, like this was normal.

They’d done this before, rather often- for, er, multiple reasons. Not always for the ones Jack assumed- their sleep cycles occasionally matched up, and he was quite a cuddler. And normally, this was her favourite bit of the day. But under the circumstances…she tried not to shudder too much. If he was himself, it would have been a comfort, a pleasure; she’d feel safe and wanted. As it was, she just felt confined and afraid.

But maybe…maybe she was looking at this all wrong. Maybe this wasn’t them puppeteering him. Maybe this was a fragment of the man she knew coming through to the surface and wanting to keep her safe while she slept.

The Doctor’s head lolled forwards and his forehead clonked against the back of her head.

And despite everything, despite the bright lights in the sleeping room and the distant ambient noise and the fact that the man she loved was currently checked out entirely, Rose suddenly felt sleepy.

There was a faint mumbling sound from the Doctor, and Rose’s eyes began to sag of their own accord. She fought to keep them open- but it was a losing battle.

Within seconds, she was sound asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Yes, that's a real species of ant.](https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Polyergus_nigerrimus) I didn't pick the name.
> 
> This chapter's a little rough, and I apologize for that, but there comes a point where you just get sick of editing, you feel? 
> 
> Anyway. From here on out, things get better. I promise. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! I love reading your theories and thoughts on the situation- brightens my day a whole lot.


	16. Formica candida

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains some blood and mentions of wounds. It's not that graphic, but I figured I should give a heads up.

Rose ran.

The craggy hallways of the hive twisted in all directions, and she ran as fast as her feet could carry her- shoes slapping against the dirt and filth, heart hammering in her chest.

She could hear him. Behind her, calling her name. She didn’t know why that beloved voice was so terrifying, now, but it was. He was calling for her, and he was not himself.

Her Doctor was chasing her, and she couldn’t let him catch her.

Where was Jack? Rose didn’t know. She glanced back over her shoulder, a twisted shadow curling its way down the wall as he sprinted after her- and in his hand-

A thin, twisting shape that looked an awful lot like a knife.

Rose screamed and redoubled her speed, but no matter how far or fast she fled, he was always there, always just a few steps behind.

“Rose!”

“Rose, come back!”

“ROSE!”

No, no, no, no, no-

She jerked down another nondescript tunnel, terror flooding her veins. She needed to get out. She needed to find a way out of this horrible place-

Ahead, down the dimly-lit tunnel, a flash of blue amid the grey caught her eye. Rose ran straight for it, heart leaping when she saw it was a wooden door. Dark blue and inset into the wall, she made a beeline straight for it.

Someone on the other side of the door was pounding on it. Four times in a row, Thump-thump-thump-thump. Rose grasped the handle, yanking it open and flinging herself through.

She fell, end-over-end, through a black void that went on for what felt like eternity. She plummeted, the darkness around her gradually fading into light, and just when the brightness had started to verge on painful-

Rose landed with a THUD.

She blinked a few times, confused and frantic. Shot to her feet and spun around in an attempt to get her bearings.

The hive. She was in the hive. The walls were strange colours that hurt her head to look at for too long, and yet the smell of this horrible place was far cleaner than she remembered it being.

She was in a narrow hallway connecting to the main path, and she wasn’t alone.

A line of slaves, hundreds of them, were marching down the halls, all carrying…things. Every one a different species, all marching along in lockstep, all ferrying food or materials or other slaves or wiggling grubs or-

Or what looked like several burlap sacks, hefted over the shoulders of her alien.

“DOCTOR!” Rose yelled, rushing over towards him, eyes locked on the collar still latched around his neck. He was in lockstep behind a Vex and in front of some tall thing with celtic knotwork on its chest, marching along with a sack over each shoulder and his head bowed submissively. It made her heart hurt.

Rose slammed into his side in a graceless tackle, barely making him wobble- he just turned his head slightly. Rose shuddered- glassy eyes and a faint, warped smile on that face she loved.

“Doctor,” She whispered, trotting a few steps to keep up, “Doctor, what’s happening, where- you need to snap out of it! DOCTOR!” she yelled, shaking him furiously.

He stopped walking and stepped out of line, the ranks closing up behind him as though the gap had never been. Rose shivered, wishing she could run away from the hollow puppet they’d made of the man she loved.

“Hello, Rose.” The Doctor said softly, his voice overlaid with dozens of others- no other mouths were moving, but he wasn’t speaking alone.

She swallowed.

“Wh- Where are we?” She asked quietly, and the Doctor just kept placidly smiling.

“We are asleep.” He said flatly, still with that faint demonic choir on every word. As though that was a comfort or an explanation.

“I- yeah, I gathered that much. Where are we? What are you doing?”

“You will help us.” The Doctor said, jerking his head down the corridor where all the other slaves were marching.

“Help you?” Rose echoed, “What the fuck do you want me to help you with?” she was shaking- this was a nightmare within a nightmare. She wanted to wake up. She wanted to wake up and see her Doctor with that shred of life in his eyes, not this hollow automaton dancing along like a mindless marionette.

“Help us.” The Doctor repeated, “He is in pain. He is resisting. He will not give in. You will help us. He trusts you.”

He turned and started to walk, and Rose bit her lip and chased after him.

Every question was met with silence, nothing but the sounds of marching and moving and work all around her. They entered the main tunnel and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with a squadron of Polyergus, who were carrying a fresh batch of slaves deeper into the hive.

Everything looked cleaner, Rose noticed immediately. The lights were brighter, the Polyergus’s chitin more glossy. The slaves looked cleaner and fitter, and there was no more horrid dirty-insect stink oozing out of the walls.

The Doctor jerked to the right, walking down a side tunnel with no warning, and Rose stumbled and trotted to catch up to him. This side tunnel was brightly-lit too, with clean pipes along the walls and well-swept floors. They passed by dozens of rooms, with barred doors that were full to bursting with sacks just like the ones the Doctor was holding. Rose got the faint sense that this was grain storage…or whatever the Polyergus equivalent would be.

The end of the hallway was around a sharp bend, and the barred doors instantly vanished. The walls here were red and smooth and glistening, like this part of the hive was genuinely alive. They pulsed with that same four-beat thudding that had rung through her dream, the soft walls shaking with each pulse.

“He is beyond that door,” the Doctor said finally, breaking his silence, “You will help us.”

“What door?” Rose muttered as they drew closer to the end of the hallway. It didn’t look like a door- it looked like someone had papered over that part of the wall with giant sheets of gauze. Something terracotta-red and liquid was leaking out from under the bandaging, trickling across the floor. Not a lot- just a dribble- but it was still unnerving. If she didn’t know better, she’d say that was the Doctor’s blood.

He let one of his sacks hit the floor, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ball of- something.

The Doctor turned around and offered Rose the ball, which she took. It was like silk- thin fibres rolled into a ball, like wool.

“He is beyond there. We cannot cross the barrier- the pain is too great. He will not hurt you. Finish the cocoon and he will be at peace.” The Doctor smiled at her, with all the sincerity of a windup toy’s painted-on grin.

Rose smiled weakly.

“Yeah. Okay. Sure. There’s no door there,” She said, mentally making a note that whatever she was supposed to be finishing, she would do no such thing.

The Doctor turned around and waved his hand, and Rose watches ad the strands of gauze fell away from the door like curtains screwed to the wall. Each one rustled as it fell, a dozen layers of fabric falling away- and getting progressively more soaked with that strange terracotta-red liquid as they got deeper and deeper.

The last layer of gauze was soaked with the stuff, and it fell away with a wet slap, smacking against all the other folded layers of gauze. It looked old and rotten- like it had been used to dress a wound and then left in place till the wound started to go off.

Rose swallowed her gag, eyes falling on the weirdly-normal dark blue door that was now visible. The red stuff all around the door was leaking traces of that strange liquid, and she turned to ask the Doctor what this place was-

“Do you love him?” the Doctor said in that same soft monotone, and Rose shuddered.

“Yes.” She replied.

“He is in pain, Rose. You will help him. If you help him, he will no longer be in pain. Complete the cocoon, and he will be happy. This will heal. This will be better.” The Doctor assured her, a strange softness in his tone that sent shudders up her spine.

Rose reached out and twisted the brass handle, pushing the door open.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

Beyond the door was blackness and chill, like night had fallen with a new moon. Faint lumps glistened under the light from the hall, and Rose turned back to look at the Doctor like he was mad.

“That- that leads nowhere!” she protested, and the Doctor shook his head.

“You will go. He is beyond the barrier. He will not let you feel pain.” He assured her, and Rose swallowed.

The Doctor was in pain. The not-Doctor wanted her to go in there and…”finish the cocoon.” Whatever the hell that meant.

That implied that the Doctor- her Doctor- was somewhere beyond that blackness. The Not-Doctor had assured her that she would be safe…

…and the Doctor was in peril.

Easy enough, when she put it like that.

Rose took a deep breath and stepped into the blackness. The door slammed behind her, just in time for her to regret her decision.

The ground under her feet squelched, and the smell was strong- coppery, and hard to describe. The air was cold, and a chilling wind blasted every exposed inch of her skin.

The darkness was total without the light of the hall to guide her, and Rose stood for a few moments, confused as to what she was supposed to do.

In the distance, something clunked- and a rectangular light started to shine. A door swung open, its illumination a beacon to her across the sea of blackness. Rose set off for it instantly, the ground squelching with every step.

She’d walked a few dozen paces when a distant rumbling echoed through the void, no hint of a ceiling above this place. Something was coming, and Rose swallowed and started running for the door. It sounded like a distant thunderclap- how could there be a storm in this void?

She ran as fast as she could, clutching the silk ball tight in her hands as she sprinted for the door- another rumbling burst of sound tore past her, loud enough to make her ears ring and her skin prickle. It was getting closer, whatever it was, and fear shot through Rose’s veins, ice-cold slush hammering through her chest in terror.

The door was still too far away-

“ROSE, DUCK!” a strange voice she’d never heard before in her life tore through the silence. A man, English, and he was panicked- for her.

Rose dropped onto all fours a second later, and to her shock, a translucent white ghost faded into existence right beside her. He was tall, with his back to her, and curly hair with a squashed-looking trilby hat- and a long, colourful scarf around his neck. He had his arms spread- as though he intended to block some kind of a blow-

“COVER YOUR EARS!” the man shouted, and Rose clapped her hands over her ears-

The scream that slammed into them was louder than anything Rose had ever heard in her entire life. It was like a cannon blast going off two inches from her head- and it hit like a freight train. If she’d been standing, the wall of screaming, wailing sound would have blown her off her feet.

The ghostly man absorbed the blow, shattering into nothingness when the agonized howl hit him- the wisps of his body dissipated into the air. He’d just saved her life- if he hadn’t been there to take the hit-

Rose scrambled to her feet. No time to think about that. No time to dwell. Whoever he’d been, he’d just saved her life.

She ran, ran as fast as she could towards the door.

Voices floated to her. Men she’d never heard before in her life. Old. Young. Posh, stern, serious, cranky, loving, tired.

“Help me,” they whispered, “Help me, Rose.”

A distant rumbling from her other side told her that the wall of sound had bounced off something and was on its way back- and this time, she wasn’t sure there’d be a ghost to stop her getting blown apart.

The door was so close-

Another rumble, so much closer, the thunderclap that heralded the scream echoing tens of metres away, and she didn’t have time, she didn’t have time-

Three more strides.

Two more strides.

One more-

Rose tumbled through the doorway a second before the blast of sound tore past the entrance, the feral shriek of countless souls whistling past the open door for second after second.

It petered out slowly, and Rose sat up from where she’d fallen on the floor.

The room was square with low walls, and utterly silent. Dimly, she was aware of the door slamming shut behind her, leaving her in this strange sterile space.

The far wall of the room was dominated by a strange, oblong shape- it looked like one of the cocoons she’d seen the slaves tending to in the nursery. Silk threads wound around it, tying it to the walls and letting it dangle from the ceiling- and she could see there were large gaps in the material. One in the middle, one along the side…

Rose looked down at the ball of silk she’d been given, and then back up at the cocoon.

She scowled and flung it over her shoulder, stomping towards the strange, silken blob.

It was utterly still- not wiggling like some of the pupae in the pile. Smooth and slightly tacky to the touch- someone was inside of there, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who.

Through one of the gaps in the white silk, Rose could see a flash of plaid and colour- she shook her head. Irrelevant. She shoved her fingers into the hole, pulling with all her might- and grinning in triumph as the silk tore all down the middle. 

The cocoon ripped, and Rose kept pulling, tearing huge pieces off it- there was someone in there, in a colourful coat that was almost bordering on eye-gouging. She ripped and tore and flung, her grin turning feral and rebellious. This is what they got for inviting a human into their hive. This is what they got. Fuck them.

A particularly large piece tore off, and the entire cocoon groaned. Rose reached forward to rip another chunk off- and it snapped.

All down the middle, right along the initial tear. A man came tumbling out, falling on top of her and slamming them both into the floor. Rose gasped- he was heavy- and flailed a little, craning her neck up to look at the man she’d just freed.

“Doctor? Come on, Doctor. Wake up. Are you okay? Where is this place?” she poked his shoulder a few times, expecting him to snap to attention right away like he usually did when he was spacing out.

Instead, he lifted his head slowly, blinking up at her a few times in confusion. Rose frowned- his features weren’t…exactly…staying still. One second it was familiar blue eyes, and another second it was shifting to someone else’s nose, someone else’s eyes. His hair was shifting, too, colour and length and texture fading in and out, and it was starting to give her a headache.

“Doctor?” Rose said nervously, trying to scoot away from this weird shapeshifting man- a bit of an ask when he was laying on top of her legs, but she was pretty well determined.

“Rose?” the man croaked in a strangely posh voice, “Oh. Right. Hang on…”

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, and the strange shifting stopped. Jet-black hair, cropped close, and he looked up at her with a big hopeful smile. Her Doctor- no more shifting around. Blue eyes, close-cropped hair, the face she knew and loved.

Rose instantly relaxed, reaching up to cup his cheek.

“What- what was that? Why was your face shifting around? That coat is ridiculous, what- Nevermind that. What is this place? Why were you in that cocoon?” Rose couldn’t stop the rapid-fire questions, she really couldn’t. So many weird things in this weird nightmare- but the Doctor was here. The real one, she was sure of it. Eye-stabbingly colourful coat notwithstanding.

The Doctor blinked a few times, pushing himself up and sitting down beside her. He rubbed at his forehead, looking up at the cocoon, and took a deep breath.

“That’s an awful lot of questions for one little human. I don’t know everything, Rose.” He said wryly, and that one little word had a lump of tears in her throat.

“I”.

“Last one first, I suppose. They put me in that thing, because I kept trying to…I don’t know. I can hear them, on the other side of the wound. I can hear them, and I’ve been trying to free myself. So they- well, they started wrapping me up, muffling me so I couldn’t speak. I suppose?” the Doctor looked a little confused, and he shrugged.

Rose leaned against him, and he put an arm over his shoulder.

“So they wrapped you up in there because you were trying to fight them off?” Rose echoed, “I knew you were in there fighting it. I knew it. You’d never give up, never.”

The Doctor chuckled weakly.

“A lot of me already has,” he said softly, “You’re dreaming, Rose.”

She swallowed the lump of tears that slammed into the back of her throat, cold slush shooting through her veins.

“They’ll still have me enslaved when you wake up.” He said quietly, “I’m not going to be free until that collar’s off my neck.”

She buried her face into his side, choking back a sob. All that effort. All that pain and terror and still, still he wasn’t free-

“I sorta figured,” she choked out.

“Sorry. Better that you know than wake up expecting a miracle that isn’t coming.” The Doctor said, stroking his fingers through her hair. He looked solemn, which was an odd paradox in that colourful coat of his.

Rose sniffled, and the Doctor lifted her head, cradling her cheek.

“Shhh. Don’t waste your tears over me,” he said gently, “This too shall pass, Rose. We’ll get through this, together. There’s already so much of me that can fight back, now. That’s your doing. We’ll get out of here.” He said soothingly, pulling her in for a tight hug. Rose buried her face in the strange coat and sniffled, trying to get her breathing under control as the Doctor held her.

They sat there together for what felt like hours, Rose sobbing quietly into his shoulder as she tried to get her emotions under control. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. She had him, she had him in her arms, and he wasn’t free. This was still a nightmare…

Rose sniffled and looked up to ask what the point of it all was, why she’d even bothered ripping that cocoon apart if he was still in the Polyergus’s thrall, when she caught sight of where they were.

Rose gasped.

The sterile white room was gone. They were sitting on a sandstone boulder, carved by water thousands of years earlier. The boulder was a dozen feet high, and huge- parked in the bottom of a grass-lined valley, with dusty beige rock cliffs on one side and sloping grass hills on the other. Birds flew over the nearby river in their hundreds, chirping and singing and retreating to nests made of mud on the side of the rock wall. From the nests a strange wordless song floated, filling Rose with a sense of peace. She looked up- up at a blue sky bigger than any she’d ever seen in her life, and she looked down at the Doctor, jaw agape.

“Welcome to Poverty Rock, Rose. This is where I wanted to take you earlier.” The Doctor said, kissing her cheek. “I thought you might like it.”

“It’s so beautiful…” Rose whispered, and the Doctor nodded.

“Just a memory, this. I thought you might want something a little better than that awful room I was stuck in. You’ll see it for yourself, soon. I promise. We’ll get out of here, Rose, and I’ll take you. It’s so much better in person.” He promised, and Rose straightened up a little, tears forgotten.

“I’m getting you out of there.” She said quietly, looking at the peace, the hope, the LIFE. The grasses swaying in the breeze, the distant stands of trees growing in the shade of the hills by the water’s edge. Animals and plants, a fresh breeze, a babbling brook. This place was heaven- and the hive was hell.

The Doctor chuckled.

“That’s what I’m counting on.” He said softly, “Rose Tyler, my saviour. I love you.”

Rose locked up.

“Now I _know_ I’m dreaming. You never say that.”

He smiled and shrugged.

“Just because I don’t say it, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Don’t have to go around saying it all the time just because. But it is true, Rose. I love you, and you’re my saviour. You saved me when you first took my hand and never, ever stopped.”

Rose looked at the ground. She felt for his hand, resting on the hot rock, and laced their fingers together.

The Doctor closed his eyes and smiled.

As they sat, Rose glanced at the valley wall. There was a distant sound like wordless chanting, heard both with her ears and not. At the brow of the hill, dozens of shapes were gathering- great wooly beasts with too many legs and large bulbous heads. They snorted, and turned away, ambling from the river and out of sight. 

“Althuwr.” He said softly, answering her question before she’d even asked it, “They’re not sentient. They roam the grasslands in herds thousands strong.”

Rose nodded, and they both settled back to listen to the birdsong.

After a while just sat there enjoying the peace, Rose turned to look at him.

“So…what about your face? Why was it shifting around then?” She said after a moment’s pause, and the Doctor frowned.

“…I don’t remember. I know there was a reason, I just…don’t remember why. It’s probably nothing important, though.” He brightened up, looking at Rose with pride in his eyes.

They sat together for some time, resting on the rock, watching the memory of the birds dancing in the sky.

“It’s time for you to wake up, Rose.” The Doctor said eventually, looking at her sadly, “I need to send you back so you don’t have to walk across the wound. That- I’m sure you can guess why. It’s time for you to go.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Rose spluttered, voice choking up again instantly. No. No. She didn’t want to lose him again. Didn’t want to wake up from this dream and back into the nightmare.

“You’ve got a plan already,” the Doctor said, “You’ve got a plan, and you’ve got Jack. You’ll figure it out. Pay attention to everything you see. I trust you.”

Rose swallowed.

“I don’t want to go,” she said softly.

“Neither do I, love.” Came the somber reply- and already, the colours were fading from the memory. Everything was fading, spiralling away. She tried to call out to him- but he couldn’t hear her.

The last thing Rose felt as the dream faded around her was the Doctor’s hand holding hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice little breather for everyone in these trying times. We'll be resuming somewhat-normal service shortly. 
> 
> Hopefully you're all doing well and staying safe. I hope this story is a little island of consistency in these trying times. Consistently nightmarish, but consistent nonetheless.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! I love them all, even if I'm godawful at replying to them.


	17. Polyergus oligergus

Rose woke with a start, flailing around frantically. What- where-!?

Gritty walls, dirty-cricket stench. Time and leather, a heavy weight pressed into her back.

She was still in the hive, and the Doctor was half on top of her like a blanket.

One of his arms was wrapped round her torso, and his head was pressing into the back of her skull. No snores, just soft breathing.

Well, no snores from the Doctor. Jack was snoring like a chainsaw in the next bed over. His legs were dangling off the end- it looked like a child’s bed with him in it. And he wasn’t alone- most of the other cots in the room were occupied with the sounds of sleeping aliens, snores and growls and wheezes and whistles resonating through the air.

That dream had been...downright bizarre. She couldn't really put her finger on what was different about it- and with the Doctor cuddled all around her, thinking it over wasn't exactly easy at that precise moment. Later. She could dwell on it later. He was probably still a soulless husk- (and didn't that thought just make her heart sink)- and fixing that took priority over musings on dreams. 

That, and she really needed to fully wake up first. Ugh.

Rose sat up and looked around, biting her lip. Maybe…maybe she could sneak off to the ship? If so many were sleeping, maybe she could sneak to the TARDIS while everyone was-

“Mornin’, Rose!” the Doctor said softly- practically whispering so he didn’t wake everyone else up. Rose internally groaned. Of course he went straight from sleeping to waking with no lag time. Grogginess was for humans and humans only. 

“Mornin’, Doctor,” Rose said with a sigh, getting up to go shake Jack awake. If the Doctor was so perky, that meant...that meant she'd just woken up and wasn't ready to think about what that meant.

As she jerked Jack’s shoulder to rouse him, Rose smacked her lips a few times and grimaced. She really wanted to go brush her teeth, but the odds of the Doctor letting them back on the TARDIS for that were slim to none.

Brush her teeth _and_ her hair, come to think of it. What a rat’s nest- her mother would have a conniption if she saw Rose walking around with those tangles…

Jack grunted a few times, blinking awake in the dim light and moaning. He slung an arm over his face- Rose could sympathize. Mentally she was a bit foggy, but physically her body felt wide awake- and wasn't that an odd contrast?

“You two ready to go yet?” the Doctor said cheerfully, and his tone sparked some relief in her. Rose glanced over her shoulder- and there it was.

A glimmer of life in his eyes. He wasn't just a soulless husk anymore- there was some semblance of self there again. A small spark of triumph welled up in her breast.

Maybe that dream hadn’t been just her imagination.

“Hnffffg” Jack grunted, sitting up slowly and blinking his bleary eyes, “Hmmmmgggggfffggg….”

Rose nodded in agreement and looked back at the Doctor.

“Could really use a trip back to the TARDIS,” Rose said firmly, in the faint hope the Doctor would capitulate, “I’m a mess and so’s Jack. Need to brush my teeth and get some breakfast an’ whatnot…”

“Yeah,” Jack grunted in ignorant agreement, rubbing his eyes and sitting up, “Fuck, I’m so fuckin’ SORE…”

The Doctor was up on his feet, and he folded his arms.

“Can’t do that, we’re afraid.” He said with a contrite look on his face. Rose’s heart sank- still with the plural pronouns, then. The spark was back, but his mind was still the Polyergus’s toy.

He _had_ warned her.

But she didn't have to like it.

“Why not?” Jack grumbled somewhat petulantly, “I just slept on a bed for a fuckin’ toddler, Doc, the least you could do is let me have a shower and a coffee…”

The Doctor shook his head.

“My ship is locked up tight and won’t let anybody in,” he said with a sigh, “And anyway, there’s breakfast for all of us here. We don’t need my food or my ship.”

Rose blinked a few times at that confusing spaghetti of pronouns, still a little fogged up to properly consider it. There was something wrong about that- surely the Doctor would be able to open his own ship…?

“Food…?” Jack groaned as he stood up, “Oh fuck…Tomorrow, I’m sleeping on the fuckin’ floor…”

“Yes, food. Come with us- we’ll show you the way.” The Doctor said cheerfully, gesturing at them to follow him.

Rose fell into step behind her mad alien, mind already racing. He’d told her to pay attention to everything, hadn’t he?

She wasn’t going to let him down.

* * *

They stepped into the cavernous chamber, and Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The room smelled strongly of rotten lawn clippings, with slight whiffs of sugar and meat- overlaid on top of the omnipresent dirty-cricket smell.

The room itself was well-lit with the odd flickery bulb hanging from long wires on the cavernous ceiling above. The floor was halfway tiled- as though the builders had done half the room and then got bored and wandered off for a tea break, and then never come back. On the tiled half of the floor were a handful of benches and tables, one or two of which looked faintly like the tables from Rose’s school cafeteria.

Along the curved far wall were huge recesses, a dozen in all, in which sat the giant swollen Polyergus Rose had seen earlier. Their antenna flicked dispassionately as slaves and workers milled about, and she swallowed nervously. 

“What are those?” she hissed, squeezing the Doctor’s hand in concern.

“Repletes!” he said cheerfully, tugging her towards that far wall. Rose spared a glance back- Jack had a look like this was something he’d been expecting, but not looking forward to.

“Yeah, great. What’s a replete?” Rose asked, letting the Doctor tug her up to the wall. Beside the first replete was a shelf at about waist height, piled with several large stacks of somewhat-clean metal bowls. The Doctor grabbed one off the top, nodding at Rose to do the same.

She grabbed one, biting her lip nervously, and followed the Doctor down the line past the row of giant swollen Polyergus.

This close, the repletes had the same glazed look in their four eyes as the slaves did, and Rose swallowed nervously. They sat in their recesses with their heads hanging down, reminding her of the juice machine at the school cafeteria- the only thing it was missing was the metal rails to slide her lunch tray along.

The Doctor strode past the first two repletes, their abdomens swollen with a strange greenish fluid, and up to the third one. Its abdomen- like all the ones after it- was a salmony-pink, a total mystery as to what was inside. The recesses all looked significantly bigger than the workers inside, as though they could get a lot bigger than they currently were.

The Doctor held up his bowl to the worker’s mouth, and-

Rose closed her eyes and turned away.

Yuck.

“Well? Your turn!” the Doctor said cheerfully, and Rose swallowed and stepped up.

If she wasn’t starving, she’d have turned tail and fled. The Doctor was looking at her expectantly, and Rose held up her bowl to the worker’s mandibles.

She closed her eyes, doing her best to tune out the distant splatting sound, and opened her eyes a second later.

In the bottom of her metal bowl was a lump of pinkish mush, about half the size of her fist. That was nowhere near a full meal- for her, let alone the Doctor or Jack. She looked at the Doctor’s portion- it, too, was microscopic.

“Where’s the rest of it?” Jack wondered aloud after he’d been given his portion of slime, and the Doctor shrugged.

“The little ones need more of it than we do.” He said sagely, gesturing for them to follow another few steps.

To Rose’s relief, sandwiched between two repletes was a large machine inset into the wall. It had a little spigot for releasing something. The Doctor held out his bowl- and the something turned out to be a wallpaper-grey paste.

“Oh great. A nutrient recycler. My faaaaaavourite….” Jack groused.

“What’s a nutrient recycler?” Rose asked him quietly, and Jack sighed.

“It, uh, recycles nutrients into an edible paste. Oh, and it’s a piece of _emergency equipment_ for space stations in deep space. It’s designed to keep the crew alive and not a lot else.” Jack shuddered.

“And where do they get the nutrients-“

_“You don’t want to know.”_

Rose shuddered and held her bowl up. The machine spat out a glob of paste just as big as the glob of pinkish mush, and she looked down at her sad little portion in the bottom of her bowl.

The Doctor smiled as Jack grabbed his bit, and led them over to one of the only table-and-bench setups in the room that looked like it could accommodate someone with their physiology. Rose looked down at her food and then at the other slaves- there weren’t any spoons, so how was she supposed to-

They walked by a large green alien leaning against a wall, who shoved their entire face into the bowl and started slurping up the contents. Rose shivered. Gideon would have turned them away in a heartbeat…

“Um,” she said quietly, “Doctor, is- are there any, um, spoons?”

The Doctor blinked a few times, like the question had thrown him for a loop, and then his face split into a manic grin.

“No. But, tell you what…” He put his bowl down on their table and fished around in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets, pulling out three metal spoons a moment later. They were all mismatched- and Rose took one gratefully, as did Jack.

She sat down next to Jack and across from the Doctor, placing her bowl on the dented metal table with a clank.

The two blobs of mush stared back at her.

“You should try it. S’ good!” the Doctor encouraged, scooping some of the pink mush into his mouth and swallowing it down.

Rose looked at Jack despairingly. Her stomach was growling, but this mush had- had-

Jack spooned a tiny amount of pink mush into his mouth- and his eyes widened.

“Rose, you’re not gonna believe me, but it’s actually pretty good.”

“What-?!”

“Yeah, it’s…it’s not bad. Tastes like candied salmon.”

“…No idea what that is.”

“Smoked salmon drizzled in maple syrup. It’s good!”

Rose shuddered and spooned a tiny amount into her mouth.

To her shock, Jack was right. The pink mush had a strong meaty taste, paired with smokiness and a sweet flavour that gave the whole thing a nice kick. It was…it was actually really, really tasty.

What the fuck.

Emboldened, Rose scooped up a glob of the nutrient paste and stuck it into her mouth- and instantly regretted it.

It had the consistency of wallpaper paste, and a flavour so aggressively bland that it was almost painful. It tasted like the smell of drywall, coupled with a dash of playground gravel and the purest essence of “plain.” That, coupled with the rank texture, was enough to make her gag.

Rose scraped the remainder of the paste onto the edge of the bowl and looked up at Jack, who just gave her a sympathetic nod.

Rose shuddered and tucked back into her meat mush. At least that was pretty damn good. If it had some presentation value, she could see this stuff served at a fancy restaurant or something.

The Doctor ate everything in his bowl quickly, clearly unbothered by the horrible flavour of the nutrient paste, and before long he’d scarfed it all down and was smiling at them patiently. The spark of life in his eyes did a lot to mitigate the creepiness, but as long as that iron collar was snapped around his neck, he was still one of them…

Rose scowled and looked back down at her bowl. A tiny glob of meat and a tiny glob of paste. Breakfast for a fully-grown man in this place. This wasn’t enough for her to last until lunchtime, let alone Jack or the Doctor.

He’d told her, last night, to pay attention to her surroundings. He needed her to put it all together, to figure it all out. That was a tall order on an empty stomach. Just a shame she couldn’t sneak off to the TARDIS to raid their well-stocked pantry-

**Wait.**

Rose’s eyes went wide as the germ of an idea planted itself in her head. She just needed to grab Jack and get the hell away from the Doctor.

Maybe, though…maybe she didn’t have to.

Rose unzipped her pocket and discreetly reached inside. Her fingers brushed against the coin- prompting a shiver, that was too precious to lose- and then her mobile.

She grabbed her mobile and very carefully pulled it out, doing her best to look as casual as possible. If only there was a way she could tap out a message without the Doctor noticing…

“Y’know, Rose,” the Doctor said sweetly, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and cleaning his spoon, “We appreciate you trying to defend our honour, but it really isn’t necessary.”

“What?” Rose said, blinking a few times. What the fuck was he on about? Defending his honour, what-?!

“Yesterday. You got very upset about us and pronouns. We understand why, but it isn’t really necessary.” He said kindly, “You don’t need to defend us- it doesn’t bother us at all.”

“Pro- oh. Oh…” Rose shivered. Of course he’d heard her say that. Of course he’d been listening. He was always listening.

“We’re not human, you know. In our language, pronouns aren’t tied to biological sex. We just use the male ones in your language because it’s easier for humans like you to understand. We don’t mind what others call us, though.” The Doctor was smiling, that professorly tone he took sometimes tinging his words. It would have been just another mid-adventure explanation- if it weren’t for the collar clamped around his neck.

Rose nodded slowly, absorbing that new information. He was trying to reassure her that it was alright. He was trying to prevent another outburst by educating her about the ins and outs of what was happening. In short…he was trying to protect her.

“Fantastic! Glad to get that all sorted out. You don’t need to get upset, Rose. We understand why, but there’s no need. Anyway, we’ve all got work to do, so you need to eat up!”

Rose palmed her mobile and started to eat the last of her meat mush, mind racing for how to start tapping a message into her phone- and then it clicked a second later.

“…Anyway, you were asking about the repletes! Repletes…there’s a few species of ant with a similar caste on Earth, mostly in deserts and whatnot. This lot do things a bit differently- instead of picking a worker when they’re callow and new, and feeding them until they swell up, our repletes are workers who don’t really like going on raids so much. Not many, maybe one in a hundred has that trait. They sit around and eat as much as their family will feed them, until eventually they get so big that moving around gets a bit tricky. They can get almost twice as big as the ones over there, just as long as they have enough food. So they put them in the walls, and-“

Rose held up her phone, cutting the Doctor off mid-rant.

“What’ve you got that out for?” he asked with a frown.

“Sorry. Mum texted me while we were asleep. Wants to know if I can come home tomorrow.” She said, and the Doctor winced.

“I’ll tell her no.” Rose assured him, and instantly the expression of pain vanished and he was back to smiling.

“Fantastic!”

He kept chattering away to Jack, blathering about random things, and Rose tapped out a message on it- a message she had no intention of ever pressing send on.

She glanced up when she was finished, turning back to her bowl of paste and mixing it around with her spoon, waiting for the Doctor to look away…

He got up a second later with assurances that he’d be right back, taking his bowl over to a basket on the wall for depositing dirty bowls, and Rose elbowed Jack and showed him her screen.

Jack’s eyes went wide as he scanned over the message. A second later, he glanced up and nodded at her.

Rose deleted the message and snapped her phone closed, tucking it into her jeans pocket and smiling up at the Doctor as he returned.

A Polyergus wandered towards them, just as the Doctor was about to sit down, and the two of them stared at each other for a moment.

The Doctor looked down at Rose’s bowl, half-full of nutrient paste, and smiled apologetically.

“Are you going to finish that?” he asked, and Rose pulled the spoon out and furiously shook her head.

“Ah, wonderful. She’s hungry, you see.” The Doctor scooped the bowl up and cradled it in both hands, holding it up to the Polyergus’s head so her mandibles were inside- and only then did she begin to eat it, all while maintaining unbroken eye contact with the Doctor.

Rose shuddered.

She clenched her jaw- this was why. This was why she’d be putting her plan into action, just as soon as they were away from the Doctor.

The Polyergus finished eating, and the Doctor lowered the bowl with a smile and kept staring at her. After a few tense moments of staring at each other, he turned back to them.

A tall alien with a human shape and a cat’s head tottered towards them a moment later, and the Polyergus wandered away. He gestured at the new arrival and grinned- Rose took note of the alien’s tattered robes and the lack of a collar around his neck.

“Today you’ll be cleaning the washrooms on the second storey. Hope you don’t mind, it’s the safest place for you in the whole hive. This one will show you to where you need to be. That one’s a lot busier, so try to stay out of trouble, yeah? And Rose. Don’t wander off! Got that?”

Rose smiled and nodded pleasantly.

The Doctor’s face split into a wide grin, and as she stood, he hopped around the table to give her a genuine hug.

“Now get going. We’ll be a bit busy today, getting the Vex ship set up for a large raiding party and whatnot. We’ll see you for your second meal, alright?” Rose and Jack nodded, and the Doctor gathered up Jack’s bowl and trotted over to the basket, dropping them both inside and walking away.

Rose smiled up at the cheetah-man, a triumphant glint in her eyes.

This crazy plan might just work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go. Told you it had to get worse before it could start getting better. A huge shoutout to everyone who's been reading this thing closely and picking up on all my little details- and anyone who's reading it in general. Love you all. 
> 
> As an aside, I'd like to apologize for the way the repletes work. Don't blame me, blame mother nature. Trophallaxis is gross, but it works...I suppose. 
> 
> As per usual, let me know your thoughts! I love hearing your theories about where this is going to go.


	18. Formica archboldi

They walked down a side hall, and Rose trotted to keep up, her very best salesfloor shop girl smile on her face. Jack was a few steps behind, in full con-artist mode- she could practically taste the suave oozing off his swaggering strides.

“So,” Rose said to their alien guide, “You lot. Bit short on food, are you?”

The cheetah-man stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, the bluntness of Rose’s question making Jack twitch a little- but nevertheless, it got the desired result.

The odd slave milled past them as their guide stared, blinking his yellow slitted eyes as he tried to process what Rose had just said.

“How did you find that out?” he asked in a flat monotone, and Rose looked at Jack.

“Not that hard to figure out. Bit of thinking, bit of looking…bit of an underwhelming breakfast. I bet you’re all pretty hungry, hey? Want something a little more…substantial?”

“There are rations aboard our newest ship.” The Cheetahman said flatly, “We do not understand.”

“Well, we’ve got a ship too,” Rose piped up, “Y’know the blue box? That’s our ship. She’s bigger on the inside than the outside, and she’s got all sorts of food in there!”

“Yep! A whole pantry. A walk-in freezer full of meat. We’ve got food coming out of our ears in there. The crisper drawer’s just overflowing with vegetables. We’ve got it all.” Jack added, and Rose nodded emphatically. 

The alien blinked at them a few times, his flat-back ears slowly perking up.

“We are aware of this.” He said in a flat monotone, and Rose’s heart sank. Fuck. If they knew, then surely-

“We have been attempting to gain entry to the blue box for the entirety of the Commander’s rest cycle. She is resistant to requests to open our box, but we are unaware why. It is not defiance on the commander’s part. The box refuses to open, despite our best efforts. There is no way to get inside.”

Rose’s heart leapt in relief and she folded her arms.

“Oh no. There’s a way in. There’s always a way in. Jack and I have a…special method for getting into her. Why don’t you take us to our ship, and we’ll open the door for you? Let you in and show you to the food?”

The alien blinked at them again, and his ears went flat back.

“You will not enter the blue box. We will take you there, and you will open the door. We will send harvesters to collect the food inside, and then you will return to work. Are we clear?”

Rose’s heart sank at his words. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but the cheetah-man turned away and started to march.

“You will follow us to the blue box.” He said in a flat monotone, and Rose sighed, staring at the floor.

Fuck.

That didn’t work.

* * *

The TARDIS had been brought back to the chop shop sometime during the night, and Rose sighed mightily as she stared at the blue box. It sat there in the semicircle of tools, tired-looking aliens hammering on her doors and windows. A dozen broken knives and sawblades were scattered around her, and the area around the lock had long scratches cut into the wood.

Their guide walked up to the box and stopped beside it, and every alien in the room turned to look at the two humans, stepping away from the box and their labourings.

“You will open the box.” They droned in unison, and Rose’s shoulders sagged.

Her plan was ruined before it had even begun. She looked at Jack despondently, stepping up to the TARDIS doors. She lifted up the key around her neck and slid it into the lock.

There was a muffled hum from inside the ship, and Rose swallowed a lump of tears in her throat. She was so close. She was so close to her home, she was just outside the doors, and she wasn’t going inside.

She unlocked it and pushed the door open. A coal-black alien planted a clawed hand on her shoulder a second later, pulling her away from the open door and turning her to face Jack.

Two or three slaves with wheelbarrows and baskets surged into the room, and the cheetah-man stepped towards them.

“You have done your part. You will follow us.” He said blankly, stepping away from the TARDIS as the other aliens stampeded through the open doors and into the console room.

Rose’s shoulders sagged.

“You’ll never find the kitchen without us!” Jack warned somewhat desperately, “Our ship’s a bit tricky, she can move her insides around, and if she doesn’t like you, you’ll never find what you’re looking for-“

“We will find it. The ship obeys the Commander and the Commander obeys Us. The ship will obey us.” The Cheetah-man said with certainty, as they took the last few steps towards the hallway.

Rose was trying to think of some thing to say, some way to convince them to let her into the ship, but nothing was coming, nothing, nothing. She didn’t know what to do, and their one chance was slipping out of their fingers, and-

The Cheetah-man stopped dead in his tracks.

He turned around, and Rose bit her lip nervously as their gazes locked.

“Where is the entrance to the rest of the ship?” he asked in that flat monotone, and Rose glanced at Jack in abject confusion.

“You mean the doors? I unlocked those. What-?”

“The commander’s memories indicate there is a corridor from the console room to access the rest of the vessel. The entrance is not in the console room. Where is the entrance to the corridor?”

Rose’s eyes went wide, relief and delight flooding her body as she processed the meaning of those words.

It took a lot of effort to not just pull Jack into a hug and start laughing in triumph. The old girl was backing their corner- they weren’t fighting this war alone.

“I warned you!” Jack said smugly, “Our ship’s a bit persnickety, doesn’t like just anybody tromping around inside her. If you let us in, I’ll bet she’ll open the hallway back up. She can move her insides around, y’know. She does that on me sometimes.”

The Cheetah-man blinked.

“You will stay in the console room. You will not move from the console room. Is this clear?”

Rose looked at Jack, fighting to keep her face neutral and from erupting into a smug grin. The TARDIS had their backs- there was no reason for her not to feel inordinately pleased.

“Oh, yeah. I got it.” Rose said, her capitulation faker than Jack’s smile. All despair was gone- she was confident.

The Cheetah-man herded them into the TARDIS, the gaggle of gatherers already standing about the console, waiting patiently. Not a Polyergus among them- just a half-dozen captive aliens and their baskets and wheelbarrows.

The TARDIS’s hum sharpened into something almost fierce, mirroring Rose’s own feelings. She strode up the ramp, metal grating clanking under her runners, and leaned against the console. Jack leaned up next to her, and both of them turned to look at the blank coral wall where the hallway was supposed to be.

Rose closed her eyes. Right now, they needed the timeship’s help- and that meant she needed to know the plan, too. Rose couldn’t feel the TARDIS’s emotions, not like the Doctor could, but maybe if she tried to put some thoughts on the top of her mind…maybe the TARDIS would hear it, just like the Doctor had. She was telepathic too- it got inside her head, and it didn’t even ask, after all. Surely the TARDIS would hear her.

She pushed her plan to the forefront of her mind, closing her eyes and humming at the ship, help us, help us, help us. Picturing what they needed. Picturing the Doctor, free at last, piloting her through the stars. The Doctor, now, captive and bound by these monstrous aliens.

The last image did it. The ship’s hum sharpened into something almost angry- and Rose’s heart leapt into her throat.

Before their eyes, the wall shimmered and faded away, revealing the hexagonal entrance to the rest of the ship- the hall itself became rectangular after a ninety-degree turn, and the gatherers rushed down it in a horde, clearly intent on their mission.

Yes.

In front of them, the TARDIS doors slammed shut.

The Cheetah-man turned to look down the hallway. When he turned around again, he was scowling at them.

“The corridor terminates in a dead end. There is no food storage. Where is the food storage?”

“The thing is,” Jack said, “It’s pretty obvious our ship doesn’t like you guys all that much. You scratched her paint and took one of her pilots away. I don’t think she’s super happy with you. She likes us, though. I bet if you let us guide you down the hall, she’ll be nice and let the galley show up. Right, Rosie?”

“Oh, yeah!” Rose said with a broad grin, “She likes us, heaps and heaps. We’ll show you the way, and then you guys get whatever you want from the galley, yeah?”

Their guide blinked twice and nodded.

“You will follow the gatherers to the galley and you will remain with them while they do their work. Is this clear? We will not tolerate wandering off.”

Rose looked at Jack and nodded.

“Got it.” Rose said with a smug smile, walking down the hallway with Jack beside her.

* * *

The transdimensional wall blocking the corridor fell away the minute Rose and Jack caught up to the looting party, and just beyond it was a short extension with a single door at the end of the hall. The door popped open invitingly as they approached- and Jack winked at Rose.

The gaggle of slaves shoved their way inside the galley and immediately began ransacking the place for anything even remotely edible. They tore off the freezer door and surged inside, one ripped open the pantry and started emptying every can and box into their wheelbarrow. Others started looting the cutlery and crockery, the Doctor’s good copper pots that hung over the electric range clattering into a basket as the slaves rushed around the kitchen island.

The TARDIS’s hum sharpened into almost a whine.

Rose and Jack stood back, side by side and right by the closed door. Their guide was not a foot away, yellow eyes locked on them like a hawk. He wasn’t letting them out of his sight, come hell or high water.

A can from the pantry fell off the top of the overloaded wheelbarrow and rolled towards Jack’s boot, and he smirked a little. He bent down and picked it up, the Cheetah-man opening his mouth to order him to put it in the cart-

“Hey asshole,” Jack said with a nasty grin, **_“THINK FAST!”_**

Jack wound up his arm and flung the can at the Cheetah-man’s face with all his might.

Steel collided with alien face and in the split second of abject confusion, Rose cranked the handle on the galley door and threw it open, leaping into the hallway with Jack hot on her heels. 

The door slammed shut behind them, and the TARDIS’s hum in the galley pitched up to a furious shriek, like a gale tearing through the trees.

The Cheetah-man lunged for the door- a fraction of a second too late.

The door slammed open, and the other slaves looked up- a split second before their world inverted.

Gravity inverted so the wall with the door was now the floor, and everything and everyone tumbled towards it like water down a drain. One after one they all bounced and tumbled and fell, baskets and wheelbarrows and frozen pork loins crashing into the walls and smashing against the cupboards. The TARDIS howled in a rage that few had ever heard before as she tossed the boarding party out of the galley with extreme fury.

All of them tumbled into a heap onto the grating of the console room.

The TARDIS doors slammed open, and the Doctor came in, his face red and snarling. The TARDIS instantly stopped shrieking, her hum petering off into something rather muted and afraid.

Behind him, four Polyergus stampeded inside, and the Doctor clanked up the grating, his eyes falling on the looting party.

“GET OFF MY SHIP,” he thundered, barely waiting for them to scramble to their feet and start running for the doors. He stomped up to the console and glared up at the Time Rotor, fury in every movement and etched into his face.

“WHERE ARE THEY?!” he roared at her, and the TARDIS’s hum wound down to barely a murmur.

The entrance to the corridor faded into existence.

The Doctor turned and stormed down the hallway, hive-driven fury beating a tattoo against his brain. They’d opened the door to his ship. They’d disobeyed THEIR orders. HIS ship had been ransacked, HIS food had been taken, THEIR slaves were revolting, THEIR slaves were disobeying-

The Doctor roared in fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 19 is giving me unprecedented amounts of grief, on top of the fact that my wrists are acting up. Oh, and the backlog's officially empty. As a result of those three things, if I miss the Friday deadline next week, I WILL update it on Monday. Writing's just been difficult lately, and I'm not even sure why. I just wanted to give you all a heads-up if the chapter is delayed by a few days, so you know I didn't die or whatever. I've got it mostly written and am just wrestling with the editing and whether or not to split it in two and a few other things. It probably won't happen, but if it does, well, now you know. Thanks for your understanding.
> 
> This chapter also went through a lot of revisions, as did the one before it, and I do hope the result was satisfactory, because I spent a lot of time staring out my window thinking very hard indeed. 
> 
> Anyway, that's more than enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did- or didn't- let me know your thoughts! Things are really about to pop off now...


	19. Polyergus ruber

“GO! FIND THEM!” he roared at his Polyergus raiding party, seething fury pounding through the Doctor’s veins. He’d find them and he’d do whatever it took to make those stupid apes he called companions follow orders and do as they were told, for their own bloody good. Defiance was the hallmark of species that were diced up for a meal, and Rose and Jack were already skating on mighty thin ice after this little stunt. One more push, and they’d be food for the little ones…

His sisters chittered their agreement and they split into teams of two, taking off down the corridor in pursuit of their errant prey. It was only logical- and while the hive was screaming at him to chase and hunt and track himself, his logical mind stood firm against the tide. He needed to stay here. This was the only way in or out- and more importantly, this was her heart, from where Rose and Jack could take off.

They would come back, he knew that much. They would come back to the console room, with the aim of trying to take off with him inside it. It was patently obvious to everyone from the queen down to the newly-hatched grubs just spinning their cocoons. He needed to stay in the console room and be ready for their arrival. The hive was screaming at him to take off in hot pursuit, to lead his sisters into battle to recapture their lost friends, and it didn’t make one whit of sense.

He needed to be there and be ready to stop them.

The Doctor reached into his pocket, pulling out the pulse-glove and slipping it on. He charged it up with a quick tap of the sonic, checking that the toggle still worked- one setting to stun, another to reverse the stun. Good. Still functional. He slid it back into his pocket, pacing around the console and trying to keep his bearings. 

The tangle of emotions in his mind were getting thornier and more labyrinthine by the second. His ship was trying to turn back the tide, her constant hum grinding away below the surface like fish under the ice of a frozen lake. But the hive was relentless in their fury, driving him on…

 _Go after them go after them go after them_ they wheedled, and the Doctor growled and shook his head. No.

It made no sense and it was stupid and foolish and, and, and-

And he wasn’t-

They weren’t food. They were never food. Humans, and specifically these humans, were far too valuable for that. They were precious. They were important. They were-

 _Food. Food. Food. They disobey. Food? Are they not food?_ The grubs’ voices raised up in the back of his mind, their faint murmurings raised to a fever pitch as they screamed at the commander to be fed, to be fed, to be fed…

“NO!” the Doctor thundered aloud, cradling his head in his hands. Why wouldn’t they just LISTEN?!

His sisters aboard the ship were at least listening. Somewhat. Chitters of malcontent and mistrust wove through their agreement, like they didn’t entirely believe him- a sentiment that was growing ever more common in the hive.

The Doctor snarled and shoved a memory forwards- Rose, swinging down like an avenging angel on a rusty old chain. Saving his life when she barely even knew him. Other memories of countless occasions streamed through his head, dousing the fire and making the Hive quiescent- for the moment.

The TARDIS purred, and the Doctor spun to glare at the control column, jabbing an accusing finger.

“You’ll do what we tell you,” he snapped, practically shaking from how much it hurt to string his thoughts into words, “You won’t-don’t-can’t- ship…Do…FUCK!”

He clutched at his head and ground his teeth.

His ship was defying them. His ship was defying HIM. Rose and Jack were in danger from their own independent thinking, they were at risk every second they continued to defy the hive…and his ship was aiding them in their struggle. His ship was helping them.

His ship was going to get them killed.

If she kept that up…

It didn’t bear thinking about.

Either she cooperated, or he’d MAKE her cooperate.

For their sake.

* * *

“I can’t believe that worked!” Jack panted as they both sprinted down the corridor, “I can’t believe it worked, I just- How the hell did you know they’d be so desperate-?”

“The Doctor told me to pay attention!” Rose said, by way of an explanation, “They’re barely feeding anyone anything, they’re trying to hack into the TARDIS with saws and axes…call it a hunch, I guess?”

“Hell of a hunch... still, it worked. I’m not gonna complain!” Jack said with a massive smirk, “So what do we do now? Wait for the entire hive to come on board, or…?”

“I asked the TARDIS to keep her doors locked for anyone who wasn’t the Doctor… I mean, I tried to at least? I thought at her, the same way I did for the Doctor, and she- Well, she didn’t let anyone in except for us, so-“

The entire ship juddered violently, and a low, frightful whine pierced the air. The TARDIS was whimpering- and the lights dimmed as she did.

Rose stopped running and just listened, as Jack skidded to a stop a few steps away.

The wall behind them started to shimmer, a little alcove fading into existence around them. Rose went quiet, straining her ears and listening- listening for something to indicate what might have the ship in a fluster. That didn’t go unnoticed by Jack, who scooted up next to her.

“What is it?”

“I think he’s here,” Rose said softly, “And I don’t think he’s happy.”

“We can’t just assume that it’s the Doc. It could be any of them.” Jack countered, folding his arms as they tried to catch their breath.

“I don’t know,” She said nervously, “I’ve never heard the TARDIS whine like that before. She sounded- she sounded terrified. And- You heard them. They haven’t been able to get into the ship all night. The Doctor’s got a key, same as us. He’s almost certainly on board…especially since I asked her to keep the rest of them outside.”

Jack sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Alright. Fine. Fair enough, it’s probably him. What’s the plan then, Rose?”

“I- Take off?” Rose said weakly, “I just thought…if we got to the TARDIS, we’d figure something out from there…”

Jack nodded.

“Alright. I hear you. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find a hallway with all the bedrooms, and we’re gonna split up. Once they’ve gone by, we’ll take different routes- you and I lead him on a chase through the TARDIS and try to lose him somewhere in the depths, and then head back to the console room and get her ready to take off. Got it?”

Rose nodded.

“Got it. He’s an awfully fast runner, though…”

“I know, I know. But-“

Whatever Jack was about to say next was interrupted by the unmistakeable sound of marching feet tromping across the floor tiles. It was a ways off, and yet still clear as a bell- there was someone else aboard, and they were heading in their direction.

“Alright, meeting’s over,” Jack muttered, eyes widening in alarm, “Time to get the fuck outta dodge-”

Rose nodded, and they both took off like a shot.

* * *

The news from the warriors was not good.

They couldn’t pick up the scent- it was like the trail had just ceased to exist. Of course, that wasn’t the case- the TARDIS couldn’t create or destroy, merely relocate. But that was already more than enough meddling for his tastes. He could feel the Hive’s fury crawling down his back, their voices screaming at him that defiance made the meal, defiance was the mark of a non-sentient…

He had to put a stop to this. He had to get Rose and Jack back to safety before the Hive sent in more adopted family like himself. He had to save them.

And to do that, he needed his ship to _do as she was fucking told_.

The Doctor shuddered and stomped up to the console, scowl drawn tight. The TARDIS was humming in the depths of his mind, trying to poke through the Hive’s song, trying to force her way through.

His eyes fell on the hammer dangling off the edge of the console. A thought flitted through the Hive’s mind, amplified with each new brain it echoed through as they forced it into his head, louder and louder-

 _DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO_ IT the Hive chanted in unison, encouragement winding through him and washing away his fears and misgivings-

The TARDIS’s hum pitched up into a terrified shriek.

Her terror surged through their link and tempered the Polyergus’s unceasing demands, muting them and blunting their edge- just enough for a sliver of his sanity to squeak through unscathed.

The Doctor snarled, clutching at his head. No. Not yet. Not yet. Later, perhaps, but not yet.

He turned to his ship, staring up at the Time Rotor with the hammer in his fist, and narrowed his eyes.

She was powerful, here. Inside her four walls she was a god, who could move things at a whim and often did. She had a fondness for his two current strays, he knew that much. She’d protect them, twisting the tunnels and passages to keep them safe from harm and his sisters away from them…

He couldn’t let that happen. The Hive was hungry, the brood was famished, and they’d beat down her walls to get at the food within. And Rose and Jack could take off in her, leaving them without their most powerful asset…

He stared down at the mallet again, as the Hive’s voices rumbled up to a crescendo in his mind, drowning out the last of his misgivings and driving him to act.

The Doctor stared down the time rotor, eyes narrowed, and jabbed out a finger as he telepathically barked his orders at her.

She’d freeze her innards as they stood, not shift any halls around, or else. Or else- or else he’d start breaking her console, ripping bits out and breaking things until she’d never be back together again. They all would, together. 

His mental voice wasn’t his own- the Hive sang along behind the ideas and the concepts, conducting his orchestra in plain sight.

The TARDIS’s hum pitched down to a nearly imperceptible murmur.

* * *

They’d only been running a few minutes when a door slammed open somewhere behind them.

Rose’s heart hammered in fear, and she risked a quick glance over her shoulder. Certain that she’d see the Doctor running after her, just like in her nightmares-

It was something of a relief, then, when she realized that their pursuers were instead four heavily-armed Polyergus, and not her Doctor chasing them down.

That relief lasted about three seconds, long enough for Rose to realize that their pursuers were catching up at a fairly disquieting pace.

“JACK!” she screamed in terror, and Jack just glanced at her with wide, terrified eyes.

Two legs were never, ever going to be a match for four.

Rose looked up at the ceiling desperately as she sprinted, trying to think at the TARDIS, beg her to help, beg her to change the course of her halls or get them farther away from their pursuers, something, anything-

Her response was a mournful whine, piercing the air like a siren. And to Rose’s immense relief, the hallway ahead of them shimmered into a ninety-degree bend, something she skidded around without stopping- Jack didn’t skid at all, his boots a bit more grippy than Rose’s runners.

This hallway was lined with hexagonal lights like the console room on both walls, the ceiling, and the floor- and curiously, the only ones lit up as they charged down were the ones on the floor. It probably meant something, but Rose didn’t really have time to think about what the TARDIS was possibly on about with her bizzarchitecture-

The Polyergus rounded the bend in unison, mandibles clacking as they chittered and hissed. Blaster fire split the air, and Rose yelped as a bolt barely whistled over the top of her head.

The Polyergus’s footsteps were getting SO MUCH CLOSER-

The lights on the right wall flashed once, and Jack grabbed Rose’s hand. Right wall flashing, Jack was glancing at her, what-

“ROSE, TURN!” Jack yelled, and before she could respond, she felt it. The sickening feeling of gravity inverting and moving somewhere else, the contents of her stomach sloshing over as gravity inverted to the right. Rose barely had time to turn herself, landing somewhat gracelessly on the right wall, which was now the floor.

Jack, the loathsome prick, landed on his feet like this was the kind of thing he did on the daily, yanking Rose to her feet before she had time to protest and dragging her down the hallway.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! HOW DID YOU-“

“You spend enough time on space stations, you get used to gravity occasionally taking a shit!” Jack yelled in reply.

Rose spared a glance over her shoulder to see that yes, their pursuers were still picking themselves up off the floor, letting them build a precious lead that she had no intention of squandering.

The perfectly-square hallway shimmered again ahead of them, another ninety-degree turn spearing off to the right materializing with just a second to spare. Rose pivoted around it and kept going, dropping Jack’s hand so she could sprint better.

This hallway was…empty. No doors, just lights, and it went on in a straight line for miles and miles. Rose’s heart sank- the plan. What about their plan!?

The TARDIS wouldn’t abandon them. She wouldn’t work with the Polyergus. She wanted her Doctor back. She had to. This was just- just part of the plan. Had to be.

Rose glanced at Jack.

“We need to split up!” she yelled, and Jack nodded.

“I know. Just. Where?!” he panted back. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than salvation presented itself. A door Rose had never seen before in her life shimmered into existence on the left side of the hall, just ahead of them. The hall continued on after it, forking sharply to the right. They both skidded to a halt right next to the door, taking in the carved floral emblem etched into the rich mahogany wood.

“Reckon this one’s for you,” Jack said, and Rose’s eyes went wide.

“No! It’s for both of us- it’s the only place we’ve got to hide! Jack, your plan-“ She started, and Jack shook his head and held up a hand.

“We don’t have time for this, Rose. There’s only one door in this hallway and it’s that one. If we both go in there, they’ll know exactly where we are. Better to split up so one of us gets away. Besides, it’s got a rose on it- I think She wants you to go in there.”

Rose swallowed nervously, opening her mouth to argue- only for the marching feet to interrupt her. She swallowed. Jack was right. They didn’t have time.

Rose nodded, reluctantly.

“Get in there, then. Go. I’ll meet you in the console room!” he yelled, taking off running again.

Rose twisted the doorknob and flung herself into the room, slamming it behind her a second later.

The room was pitch-dark for the first few seconds, the unpleasant feeling that she was back in the nightmare rearing its head for a moment. A light flicked on overhead to Rose’s immense relief, illuminating a small circle of light in the middle of this small, small room.

A white pedestal stood there, not two steps away, and behind it another two paces was a door, also closed.

Rose bit her lip and stepped towards the pedestal.

“What is it? What do you want me to see?” Rose murmured.

The air on the pedestal began to shimmer, just the way it did when the TARDIS moved an object from one place to another. It took a few seconds for it to fully appear- and Jack’s second blaster clinked down onto the smooth stone block a second later.

Rose’s heart leapt.

“Thank you,” She whispered, snatching it up and having a quick look at it.

The blaster was still functional. Rose shoved it in her pocket and looked at the ceiling.

“Thank you so much-“

The TARDIS hummed, and the far door popped open.

Rose didn’t need to be told twice.

She ran.

* * *

His sisters were still on their trail. Or at least, they were on Jack’s trail.

They told him that Rose’s scent terminated at a door inset into the wall- the handle was coated in human fear pheromones. His sisters split themselves into two teams, two of them surging into the room beyond to find Rose, and the others taking off down the hallway after Jack.

It was infuriating. It wasn’t enough for his ship to start playing with her internal gravity to abuse his sisters- oh no, she couldn’t be content with that. No, no, she wasn’t just jerking them around and shaping a maze for giggles- she was doing it to ensure that his humans continued to defy the hive for long enough that they’d be considered food by the saner ones among them. And if the consensus shifted far enough-

She was helping his humans to their own detriment. She was helping them defy the hive.

** She was going to get them killed. **

The Doctor snarled at the Time Rotor, feeling the TARDIS’s smarmy telepathic sendings twisting through his mind. It always took a few seconds to piece together when she sent directly like this- pure thought, meanings not encapsulated in images or words-

Oh.

OH.

“YOU!” he roared, “WE DIDN’T SAY- WE-“

He snatched up the hammer, fury beyond himself slamming through his veins and beating on him like hailstones. The Hive’s murmurs of discontent whistled up into a full-blown gale, blasting any semblance of his opinions out of the way.

HOW DARE SHE.

“We said. Freeze the hallways. We said. You will obey us. We said. Do not help them. WE DID NOT SAY MAKING ROOMS WAS ACCEPTABLE.”

The TARDIS hummed.

He snarled, face red and twisted, any semblance of his own articulate thoughts long since blasted out the nearest airlock by a wall of chitin-clad rage. He was a vessel for their fury, now- the collar around his neck making damn sure of that. She was trying to get Rose killed. She was trying to GET ROSE KILLED. SHE WAS TRYING TO KILL HIS ROSE SHE WAS TRYING TO KILL-

He stabbed a trembling finger at the Time Rotor, some vague gasp of intellect squeaking through. The idea got swept up and championed by the screaming mob in his mind, driving him on till it was all he could hear. 

“You will seal the corridors. You will revert them to a straight path back here. You will aid our sisters in recapturing the humans. YOU WILL OBEY US.”

The TARDIS whined in defiance, and some small seal holding back the floodwaters broke. The Doctor snatched up the hammer and raised it above the console.

He swung it down with all his might, a roar of unnatural fury tearing out of him-

It stopped.

A centimetre above the console, he stopped. His arm locked up, trembling with the effort to stop the blow, stop the swing dead before it could damage his ship-

He stopped.

In the back of his mind, a tiny voice whispered _no._

That small spark of defiance was like a match to a powderkeg. The Hive erupted in fury, surging through the Doctor’s connection to his ship and screaming at her, directly, through him. The tide of rage and frustration at this endless disobedience warped the second the hivemind made contact with the edges of her thoughts. The Vortex surged through every part of her being, and the Hive’s scream went from furious to agonized as they were instantly burned by the twisting knots of infinity that danced across the sea of her thoughts.

The slap to the face certainly stung her- but that wasn’t what caught the TARDIS’s attention.

The Doctor had fallen to his knees on the grating, clutching his head in absolute agony. The Polyergus had used him as a conduit to attack her- and if they did it again-

The Doctor whimpered. His head hurt- it felt like there was too much stuff inside his skull, like his brain had swelled and was pressing against the bone. And everywhere it touched, spots of agony stabbed at him-

The Hive retreated, hissing and spitting and chittering, and a soft golden touch wrapped itself around his mind. Like a hug from a lover, comfort and warmth and familiarity all at once. He didn’t- too hard to think about what it was, what was happening-

The pain, slowly, abated. Second after second, the burning that laced his overtaxed connection to his ship soothed. A full minute passed, and the Doctor blinked a few times, vision finally clear enough to see.

And to the shock of the Doctor and the Hive alike, the TARDIS’s hum softened. Images floated through his mind- the corridors were now straight and capped off with dead ends. Jack and Rose were running into a trap. They were laced with the flavour of reluctance and anger- how dare you, how dare you, how dare you, if the thoughtforms could be rendered into words. 

She’d obeyed them.

The Hive resumed singing to him mere seconds after the lull started, drowning out any attempt to think about the hows or the whys or the fact that he was a bargaining chip. It didn’t matter, they crooned. It didn’t matter. His ship was obeying them.

His shoulders slumped. Relief surged through his veins.

It didn’t matter.

Rose and Jack would be safe.

The warriors just needed to recapture them, and then his precious girl would be safe.

The Doctor smiled.

It was all going to be okay.

* * *

The halls around him shimmered, and for a fraction of a second Jack thought he might be okay.

For a fraction of a second, he thought that the TARDIS was changing things to help him, to wall off the hallway behind him, to trap his Polyergus pursuers, to do literally anything that would be of assistance.

Instead, between one blink and the next, Jack found himself staring down a straight hallway with a dead end and no fucking doors.

Thirty paces and he’d smack into the very aptly-named dead end. And a quick glance over his shoulder revealed-

Two Polyergus with their weapons upraised, staring at him with their four coal-black eyes, skittering along behind him like unmoving trains.

Panic slammed through his brain, fear-shocked cold tightening his chest as the human animal inside him shrieked in terror. No. No. No, no, no, no- OH FUCK NO-

Best-case scenario, they stunned him and dragged him back to the Doc for a few rounds of re-education or whatever today’s euphemism for torture was. Worst-case scenario, he was bug chow-

**Wait.**

A thought drifted to him as he sprinted the last few steps towards the wall, slamming into it on his forearms after a perfunctory skid.

Wait, wait, the Doctor said this lot were good at one thing and one thing only- taking slaves and making them obey. They didn’t gather food, they didn’t hunt-

The Doctor had held up a bowl of food to a Polyergus’s mouth, forcing her to eat so she didn’t starve. These were Polyergus. These weren’t slaves, _these were POLYERGUS._

“They’re good at taking slaves and making them obey…” Jack murmured, eyes going wide.

“Friend”, right, that was the word, and he needed to use their language. He needed to speak their language to get them to do what he wanted…

Ready or not, here went nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter just about killed me. No idea why, it just did. It became so long and unwieldy that I had to split it into two, which means that my chapter naming is now going to be a lot less artful. Oh well. look forward to learning the names of more slave species, guys!
> 
> On the bright side, I apparently didn't need that extension until Monday. The schedule is not a joke, folks. 
> 
> Here's hoping Ao3 gets the email thing sorted.
> 
> That's enough whining. I bled for this. Please let me know if my bleeding was worthwhile. Let me know your thoughts.


	20. Formica biophilica

Rose wasn’t sure where she was going, only that she was going there quickly. She needed to run, to- to find the Doctor. She’d lost her pursuers, for the moment-now she just needed to get to the console room.

The TARDIS hummed sharply, the ship’s mechanical voice so thick Rose could almost taste it on the air. It was a deep rumble that resonated in her bones, like the pounding bassline at a club. The ship was afraid.

The whine pitched down suddenly, petering off until Rose could barely hear it above the distant vibration of machinery. The ship’s voice was so quiet that the clattering of chitin against the floor was almost deafening. She was running out of distance- and more importantly, breath.

She needed to stop, to take a break, but there was nowhere, no place, no-

Rose rounded a corner and nearly screamed in terror.

Ahead of her was a hallway. No doors. Not one. Capped off by a dead end. No way out, no way back, and no chance of escape.

Rose whipped her head up to look at the ceiling, betrayal and terror shooting through her. _How could you?! HOW COULD YOU?!_

The TARDIS whined.

Rose slammed into the far wall in a panic, pounding on it frantically, ragged breath tearing out of her- she needed a break, it felt like her lungs were ragged, but panic wouldn’t let her-

And more importantly, neither would the Polyergus. They rounded the bend and marched up towards her in lockstep, and Rose spun around, pressed against the wall. Tears were welling up, and she wanted to start screaming. No. No. there would be time for that later. Maybe she could-

Rose reached into her pocket for Jack’s blaster, biting her lip. Could she? Would it even work? She didn’t know if she could crack off two shots fast enough, and they both had their blasters up-

“You will cease your disobedience.” The Polyergus droned in unison, their stun weapons clacking as they racked the slides, and Rose clenched her jaw.

Do or die.

* * *

The music swirling in his mind washed away any worries or concerns, and he found himself singing along with it- out loud, verbally. The tangled strains of an ancient, aeolian language forgotten by all but himself swirled through the air as he drew closer to the time rotor. Her central light faded, barely even glowing, and he reached out to her with his mind.

She rebuffed his advances, but it was alright; she was still angry, but she’d come around. She always did.

It was going to be alright.

Jack was cornered, and so was Rose. The warriors were under orders to ask first, offer them a chance to come quietly and without any fuss. A good way to show their loyalty to the hive, that, and a simple way to turn back the tide of anger that had risen against his two humans.

He didn’t expect them to agree, of course- but that was alright. Humans could be taught, and they’d simply been going about it all wrong.

They were so close to safety, and they didn’t even know it.

He leaned against the console and smiled, enjoying the warm peace that came with knowing the ones he loved were all inches from salvation.

* * *

Jack turned around and planted his feet defiantly, back to the wall. His two Polyergus pursuers racing towards him like the chitin-clad hellhounds they were. He clenched his jaw and steeled himself, pulling on every ounce of his conman conviction- if he pulled this off, this would be the most important scam of his life.

“I’M NOT YOUR FRIEND!” He roared at them, “I’M NOT YOUR FRIEND, AND I NEVER WAS! ROSE AND ME?! WE DON’T FOLLOW ORDERS. WE DON’T DO WHAT WE’RE TOLD. ASK THE FUCKIN’ DOC IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME! I AIN’T GONNA DO SHIT IF YOU CART ME OFF. _I’M NOT YOUR SLAVE, ASSHOLES!”_

The Polyergus, to Jack’s shock, stopped in their tracks. They didn’t lower their weapons- of fucking course, why would they- but they did stop. Antennae twitching as they mulled it over between them.

“You obeyed previously,” They said in unison, “Friends obey. Friends do not defy. Why should we listen now?”

“Humans are like that. Yeah, alright, we’ll do what we’re told. We’ll put up with your bullshit. For awhile. We’ll tolerate your disgusting hive and your useless behaviour. For awhile. And then eventually we get sick of it and fuck off to do our own thing. Ask the Doctor. Ask him about humans. Ask him about how good Rose and I are at following HIS orders. Ask him how we do when he’s telling us things directly!” Jack snapped, every ounce of his con-man bluster and defiance pouring out in one cathartic tirade. He stopped, then, breath bated and arms folded, waiting…waiting…waiting…

“If you are not a friend…then what are you? What is a human if not a friend?”

“You had it right the first time, assholes. Bug chow. That’s all we’re good for.” Jack snapped, “You gonna do something about it?”

The two warriors locked up.

“Cease this foolish tirade. You are a human. Humans are friends. The Commander is insistent that you are friends. You will obey us, and you will return with us.”

“I’m really not,” Jack said firmly, “the D- the Commander’s been wrong before, a lot. Just ask him. I don’t know what you lot are thinking. I can’t hear your hivemind. And I’ll never be able to, because humans aren’t telepathic. How hard is this for you to understand? Humans. Aren’t. Telepaths.”

“The Commander…may…be able to modify a neural relay to suit?” the warriors suggested in unison, a strange unsure lilt to their words. Jack had to supress a smirk. He had them dead to rights.

“You and I both know that ain’t gonna cut it. You don’t use a neural relay on something that isn’t telepathic in the first place. Sure, we can answer the phone, but we can’t place a call. And that’s the only thing that matters with your neural relays. If it wasn’t, well, we wouldn’t be talking right now, would we?”

The two Polyergus chittered, their antennae flicking out and brushing against each other. Their stingers extended- and both of them shuddered.

“The Commander does not think you are food. The grubs think you are food. We are…unsure…what to do. The Commander recalls you are dishonest. Why should we trust this human?”

“You shouldn’t. Because, and this may be a shock: **I fucking hate you.** I hate all of you. I want this fucking hive razed to the ground. I hate you for taking the Doc away from us, I hate you for forcing him to be your commander, and I hate you for enslaving god only knows how many aliens. Do you understand that? Do you understand what hate is? Because I FUCKING hate you. And I think, if you asked, Rose does too. She just won’t say it.” Jack spat, triumph welling up in his breast.

The two warriors looked at each other, their antennae locking up.

“You…hate…us?” they echoed, and was he imagining things, or were they…shocked?

“Yeah. And guess what? When a human hates someone, they sure as fuck don’t do as they’re told. Rose and I are just going to keep disobeying you every chance we get. You think humans evolved to live underground with a bunch of bugs? Here’s a clue: a lot of humans have a hard-line hatred of shit with eight legs. Sound familiar?”

“You will not obey us. You hate us. You are defiant of our will.” The Polyergus droned, “You are insistent that you are food.”

“Yeah. I am. Soup’s on, fuckers. What are _you_ gonna do about it?”

The two Polyergus looked at each other. A silent conversation passed back and forth between them, with some mandible-clacking and antennae-touching, and then-

To Jack’s relief and shock, they turned around and walked away.

They just…dropped it. On the spot. No further questions asked. He wasn’t a slave. He wasn’t a friend. He was food.

Not their job.

Jack let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and sagged to the floor in relief.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, “That _worked?!”_

* * *

His two humans were skating on very, very thin ice.

And before the Doctor’s eyes, Jack Harkness took an axe and slammed it through the frozen surface. It shattered and broke, taking all three of them down with it.

He’d tried so hard to protect them. He loved the female. Wanted her safe, well, whole, happy. By his side, warm and bright and alive. He respected the male. Wanted him hale and hearty and proud and tall. He adored them both, in different ways. They were important. And he trusted them.

And before his eyes, they’d slapped him in the face with that trust. It hurt more than words could adequately describe- like a shard of glass stabbed into his chest and twisted.

He’d tried so hard to keep them safe. Because- because-

Because he needed them. He needed their trust, their love- needed it to stay sane, needed it so he could _be_.

And as Jack spoke to his sisters, the collective mind of the hive changed its opinion in a great rolling wave, the tide turning and facing him. The last point of defiance, the tall poppy in a garden of grass. His family surged towards him, bearing down on him with all their might- demanding that he acquiesce, demanding that he pursue them, demanding that they were food, food, food-

And in his hands, his hearts broken and trust fractured, his golden shield split down the middle.

The hive surged past his last, sorrow-sundered shields, and took it all.

They sank their claws into him and dragged him down and down, filling in his addled despair with their hunger and love. He didn’t need his humans anymore, did he? They had always just been a…a… a stepping-stone, to help ease him into things. Yes.

The Hive’s song changed in his mind, twisting and distorting. His humans were no longer friends. They said so. They proved it and they said so. The humans were food. The humans were food, food, food, and the grubs lead the charge on that front. The grubs couldn’t sing- they could only scream. And scream they did- the whitecap on top of the tidal wave, washing the Doctor out to sea to drown in their thoughts.

The humans were food.

He slipped the pulse-glove on and pulled out his sonic, twiddling through the settings.

The humans were food. The humans were food. There was no room for love or sorrow or sadness or fear.

Feed the hive. Feed the grubs.

Work to do. Work to do.

Feed the hive. Feed the grubs. Feed the hive. Feed the grubs.

He slid out from under the railing, taking up a hiding spot behind a coral strut, and waited.

They would come. And he would be ready.

Their ship hummed fearfully.

He ignored it.

It was irrelevant.

Food. Food. Food. Food. 

* * *

Just as Rose closed her eyes and prepared to draw and fire, the Polyergus stopped.

She could hear it- their clawed feet stopped skittering against the linoleum, the scrape of carapace against carapace stopping dead in its tracks as they came to a dead halt.

She, very nervously, uncoiled and opened one eye.

“He-hello?” Rose said nervously, other eye opening and flicking between the two Polyergus. They stood stock still, staring at her. The only parts of them that were moving were their antennae, still flicking and touching each other, and their abdomens, slowly growing and shrinking as they breathed.

The Polyergus turned around and marched away with all the same efficiency as they’d pursued her with. Clawed legs stamped against the tile in sync, and Rose stared at them in shock.

What- wh-

Jack or the Doctor or the TARDIS had done…something. Something to get them to piss off. Someone had saved her…and if Rose had to bet her money, she was pretty sure it was Jack.

She bit her lip and let them march away a bit farther, slowly pushing off the wall and following them.

Getting too close…didn’t strike her as a good plan.

* * *

Jack could see the console room down the hallway. The TARDIS had straightened out every kink and bend in it, remade it to be a straight shot- presumably, so his wannabe-captors wouldn’t have quite so far to walk on the way back.

Thank fuck for small mercies, because now it meant that he didn’t have that far to walk either.

It was an odd moment when he sprinted past the aliens who’d been chasing him all around the TARDIS, like they were just colleagues in his way- but fuck it. He’d seen too many plans foiled by second-guessing and guys looking gift horses in the mouth. When the enemy’s making a mistake, don’t get in his way- Sun Tzu or whoever that ancient Earth fuckface was, it had been a decade since he’d read the Time Agent tactics manual-

What was he doing again? Right. TARDIS. Takeoff. Yes.

Jack sprinted into the Console room, boots clacking off the grating, and he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He staggered over to the console and leaned on it, sucking wind heavily. Fuck, he really wanted to sit down, but that wasn’t going to happen. There was no telling where the Doc was- or if he was even on board.

An idea hit Jack, then, and he turned to look at the two Polyergus walking up behind him. The minute their feet hit the grating, the TARDIS’s hum sharpened to something downright angry.

“Hey,” he called, “You know where the Doctor is?”

Why the fuck not? They weren’t going to attack him, for whatever fucking reason, so it was worth a shot, right?

The Polyergus didn’t even give him a second glance. They just walked straight past him, down the ramp, and out the front doors. Like he hadn’t even spoken. Like he wasn’t even there.

“Right. Food. Yeah.” Jack muttered, shaking his head. Of fucking course.

He turned over to the console, shuffling around to his little portion of the hexagon, and ran his fingers down the sides of it. Right, right, so, takeoff prep. Set the coordinates. Right. The TARDIS helpfully illuminated her monitor with the sequence of numbers he needed to punch in, albeit in circular Gallifreyan as opposed to a language he could read. Jack flipped the little toggle switch, and the language on the monitor changed to readable numerals- which, hold on, that was a little weird. The TARDIS hadn’t ever shown him the code on the screen before, so what-

There was a faint buzz somewhere behind him, and the lights went out.

Jack froze.

It wasn’t pitch-dark- the Time Rotor was still lit up, bathing the whole console room in a faint, greenish glow. But he couldn’t see anything past the coral columns, and he swallowed nervously.

“Hello?!” Jack yelled, spinning around, “Who’s there?! Doctor?! Doc, is that you!?”

Silence.

Jack took a step away from the console, looking around frantically. Where, where, where, someone was in here, someone-

“Doc, come on out, I know it’s-“

Something clanked on the grating somewhere off to his left, and Jack spun around to face the noise, taking a step back. His spine was suddenly digging into the railing, his flailing hands scrabbling for purchase against it.

“Just- show yourself!” Jack yelled, wishing to all the gods he’d ever heard of that his blaster was functional- or that he had his other one.

A hand clapped over his mouth, pulling him flush against a strong chest with the railing trapped between them.

“As you wish.” The Doctor whispered in a soulless monotone.

The Doctor’s other hand slapped into Jack’s chest. There was a jolt of electricity- and all his limbs went limp.

* * *

Rose was walking. Just for a little bit, just on her way back to the console room. She didn’t want to walk past the Polyergus, on the off-chance they snapped out of whatever had possessed them, wheeled around, and bit her face off. It seemed a pretty sound plan to keep her distance from the scary space bugs.

And if it gave her a chance to catch her breath, well, unintentional side effects, really.

She bit her lip and stuck her hands into her pockets. One of them held the blaster, which she’d been saved from having to fire- what a relief that was. Rose wasn’t too sure about her aim at the best of times. Saving the world, as it turned out, was more predicated on running away and talking things out than marksmanship.

In her other pocket, her fingers brushed against the coin, and a shiver went down her spine. She still had it. It was still there.

Rose stopped walking and let the Polyergus go around a ninety-degree bend in the hallway, taking the opportunity to zip her pocket up. Ever since the bugs had come on board, the layout of the ship had entirely stopped making sense.

She was about to start walking, when jack’s voice echoed down the corridor- and she froze.

“Just- SHOW YOURSELF!” Jack yelled, and Rose’s eyebrows shot up. Was the console room just around the corner? What happened to Jack-?!

There was a distant BZZT and a strangled male scream, and Rose bit her lip. Jack. They’d got JACK-!

She ran to the corner and poked her head around it, and yep, the hallway connected to the console room now. The Polyergus trotted the last few paces, and Rose bit her lip. Where the hell were the ones that were chasing Jack?

The lights were dark, too, and Rose stepped away from the corner and decided to wait a few seconds and listen.

Running in there now would be suicidal.

Clank…..clank…..clank….clank…

Bipedal footsteps on the grating. Heavy ones.

Jack was unconscious. So. Another slave…or the Doctor.

Clankclankclankclankclank-

Quadrupedal footsteps on the grating, moving away and getting more faint. Polyergus. And they were leaving.

The faint sound of the door creaking open confirmed Rose’s suspicions- and the heavy slam INSTANTLY afterwards just clinched it. The TARDIS was letting the Polyergus out- but nobody else in.

She risked another peek.

The lights in the console room were back up, and Rose took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.

She walked the last few steps down the shortened hall, stepping out into the console room and looking around. One step onto the grating. Two. Her shoes clanked on the steel, heart hammering in her chest and the hairs on the back of her neck prickling.

She wasn’t alone.

“ROSE!” Jack yelled from somewhere near the floor, “HE’S IN HERE! BACK TO THE CONSOLE, NOW, NOW, NOW-“

He was lying prone on the floor, sprawled near the controls he needed- his head just barely twisted to look her way.

Rose nodded once, stuffing her hand into the pocket with the blaster- and sprinting towards the console.

She had her back to it in a second, positioning herself opposite Jack’s side. Whipped her head around, eyes scanning over the room and all its contents. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

No Doctor.

She’d never been more scared in her entire life.

“Doctor?!” She called out to him in a panic, “Come on, just- stop this! Stop this right now! This- this isn’t funny!”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t funny when you did it to me, either!” Jack yelled, “fuck, it’s hard to breathe like this…” 

There was a faint buzz somewhere off to her left, and Rose stifled a yelp.

The lights went out.

“Not this shit again,” Jack moaned, “Rose, he’s gonna jump out at you- don’t- keep your back to the console! And he’s got a pulse-glove, so just- don’t get hit. Got it?!”

“Got it,” Rose whispered, straining for any kind of noise that would give him away.

She had a plan. The faintest outlines of a plan. She just needed-

A creak, off to her left. Leather rubbing against itself. A faint noise- but an unmistakable one. She started to edge away from it, letting the rim of the console grind into her arse as she scooted away from it.

Her heart was hammering.

Another creak. Getting closer.

Rose bit her lip and wrapped her hand around the grip of the gun.

Clank.

She barely muffled her yelp, breaths deafening in the silence. Even the TARDIS’s hum was barely audible.

“Doctor?” Rose whispered, “Doctor, please, stop-“

Clank. Closer now.

Rose closed her eyes and turned her head to look at the direction of the noise. In the dim light of the time rotor, she was lit up like a neon sign.

Clank.

She sucked in a deep breath. So close. So close. That was so, so close-

The Doctor came lunging out of the blackness, like a green-tinted ghost in the light of the time rotor. The TARDIS’s hum pitched up from nothing into a furious shriek, and from the bowels of the ship a strange bell tolled-

A hand clapped itself onto Rose’s shoulder, the other one flailing and missing as she struggled away from it. He’d slammed her back into the console, buttons and levers digging into her spine-

Rose screamed and flailed, kicking at his knees, enough to make him grunt and relax his grip for a fraction of a second-

His other hand flailed down towards her, and Rose panicked. Her arm surged up as his surged down, her free hand clamping around his wrist and forcing it back up. Somewhat. Slightly. Her arm was shaking with the effort, muscles screaming at her in protest, and she could see the outline of the glove, metal pads glinting green in the light, slowly shuddering down towards her-

The Doctor was just so, so much stronger.

They locked gazes for a fraction of a second.

The cold dead void behind his eyes would haunt her to her dying day.

His other arm moved, coming down to try and grab her left arm, and Rose let go of the blaster and flailed up at his face with all her strength.

Fist slammed into nose, and something solid crunched. The arm she was just barely holding up released for just a fraction of a second in his surprise.

Rose let go and shoved his arm aside, and just as he was about to lunge again-

She pulled out Jack’s blaster and shot him square in the chest.

* * *

The Doctor’s eyes snapped open.

Time unconscious? Twenty minutes, fourteen seconds.

The hive’s roar hit him like a wave a second later, barely giving him a moment’s respite- they were panicking. He was panicking. They were pounding on the door, he could hear them, feel them-

The Doctor surged to his feet, eyes scanning the room frantically-

Rose. Jack. Console. Manipulating console. Him. By railing. Something on wrists? Not important. He surged forwards, stopped short by a jerk as something padded dug into his wrists. He looked back-

Handcuffs. Padded handcuffs, lined with fake leopard fur.

“Jack,” he growled, whipping his head around to look at the man in question.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Jack said smugly, “Bet you’re glad I stopped at that adult store last week, eh? Or were those cuffs from that pleasure house on Pyrom Alpha…Ah, fuck it. I forget. Rose? How’s it going?”

“Um, I think this is all right…” she said nervously, sparing a glance at the Doctor. Her eyes were shining, a smile on her face- and his hearts seized in his chest.

“No. No. No, please, please- please stop. Stop. STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! JACK! JACK, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” he roared at the former conman.

Jack smiled at him benevolently and shook his head.

“Big no-can-do on that front, Doc. You’re staying right there, and we’re taking you with us. It was a nightmare getting you here, and we’re not letting you go that easy.”

Terror lanced through his veins like ice slush, the Doctor’s chest constricting as the true weight of Jack’s words settled on him. He reached for the hive, desperate for the connection, desperate to not be torn away- and their terror tore through him as he whipped his head around to lock onto Rose.

Rose. Rose. His salvation. The female loved him. The female loved him and he loved the female.

“Rose. Please. Rose, you love us, you love us and don’t want us hurt, Rose- Let us go. Please let us go. We’ll- we’ll let you fly away! Just let us go. LET US GO- ROSE! **_ROSE-!”_**

Rose shook her head, not meeting his gaze.

“They can’t have you.” she whispered, “I’m not gonna let them.”

He strained against his restraints, desperate to stun them both, fear crowding out anger and- and-

Where was his pulse glove? It wasn’t on his hand, where-

His eyes fell on the glove where it lay discarded on the grating, just out of reach- the toggle switched to reverse the stun. He shuddered- the hive was screaming in his mind, howling for him to stop them, stop them, stop them-

“Please,” he begged, “Please, Rose, please don’t- don’t- Just stop. Please, just stop, we don’t-“

“No.” Rose said firmly, jaw clenched, “No. We’re getting you out of here, Doctor. We’re getting you out of here….”

She toggled the black lever, the artificial horizon lever, and the Doctor started to properly thrash against his restraints, enough to tear bloody rents into his skin.

“Please. Please don’t. Don’t cut us off. PLEASE! ROSE, DON’T TEAR US AWAY, ROSE-“

“Not happening, Doc. Rose and I scrubbed one too many alien shitters to let you off this easy.” Jack was all smug and quippy and it would have been infuriating if it wasn’t so terrifying.

His voice petered off as Rose laid her hand on the takeoff lever, his hearts hammering in his chest.

“Please. We’ll be alone. Please. Please don’t take us away. PLEASE! ROSE!” he screamed, and why was there wet stuff trailing down his face, why, why-

Rose locked eyes with him. Defiant. Triumphant. Loving.

She thought she was doing the right thing.

“Coordinates are in, and I even got a green check-mark! We’re good to fly. Rosie? You ready?”

Rose nodded, still locked onto the Doctor.

“Don’t do it. Please don’t do it. You’ll hurt us. You’ll rip us apart. It hurts, Rose, it hurts more than you know-“ he fell to his knees, the Hive screaming in time with his heartbeats.

“I love you.” Rose said, eyes locked on his.

She closed her eyes and pulled the lever.

The TARDIS lurched into the vortex with a groan and a shudder, her hum pitching up into a whoop of delight. Rose laughed, Jack cheered-

And the Doctor screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now you know why I bled so much. This was originally supposed to be part of chapter 19, but between the two of them it's almost 9k words in length- way, way, WAY too long for a single chapter in my weird, neurotic little world. Don't ask why I'm like that, I just don't know. Oh yeah and also this bit wasn't done when I posted the last chapter, so that's also a thing I guess.
> 
> Thanks for reading, thanks for your patience, and let me know your thoughts!


	21. Polyergus samurai

The TARDIS landed in the vortex with a shudder, the console whistling and beeping triumphantly. Rose was grinning ear to ear as she picked herself up off the grating, dusting off her jeans and beaming at Jack.

“We did it! I can’t believe we did it-!” she crowed, turning to face the Doctor.

All joy instantly drained off her face.

He was slumped forward on his knees, the shackles on his wrists the only thing keeping him even slightly upright.

No screaming. No thrashing. Just…panting. Ragged, empty panting.

Rose rushed over, immediately fumbling for the collar. She hit the button, and it snapped open easily. She’d been right. No lock.

“Doctor?” Rose let it drop to the grating with a heavy clank, cupping his chin in her hands and holding his head up.

He wasn’t looking at her. More…through her. Like she wasn’t even there.

He mumbled something in his language that Rose didn’t understand, head hanging forwards.

“Jack!” she yelled, whipping her head around, “Jack, I need the key-“

“Coming, coming…we have got to work on our landings…” he muttered, fishing it out of his pocket and undoing the Doctor’s handcuffs.

He fell forwards, Rose only barely managing to catch him under his arms.

“Doctor? Come on, Doctor, say something-“

He lifted his head up, then, looking past Rose. Eyes locked on the TARDIS console.

The ship hummed softly, the lights in the console room brightening to a soft, pulsing gold.

“Jack? Help me.” Rose said, slinging one of the Doctor’s arms over her shoulder. Jack repeated the same on his other side, and they both helped pull him into a standing position.

“Come on, Doctor, it’ll be okay. You’re okay. Come on…” Rose was babbling, now. More to comfort herself than him- could he even hear her? Could he even understand her?

Had they done the right thing?

No. They had. He’d…he’d be fine. He just…needed…

The second they were within arm’s reach of the console, the Doctor clumsily jerked away from Rose. His knees hit the deck, a clumsy forearm just barely catching the edge of the console.

Instead of pulling himself back up into a standing position, though, he just…rested his forehead against the console’s edge.

And went very, very still.

The TARDIS’s lights started to flicker slightly. A pattern that took a few cycles to notice. Flash-flash-flash-flash. Pause. Flash-flash-flash-flash. Pause.

His heartbeat.

Jack looked at her nervously, and Rose took a step forward.

“Doctor?” she said nervously, “Doctor, I’m going to…”

She reached out a hand, fingers drooping a little. He needed connection. Telepathic species needed connection. He was a telepath. So…maybe…

Rose knelt down next to him and reached a nervous hand up. It hovered a centimetre from his ear, from his temple…

Maybe…maybe it would help.

She closed her eyes and touched two fingers to the side of his head.

For a few seconds, there was nothing. Rose didn’t think anything at him in specific- just…tried to think, _it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here. I love you. You’re safe now. I’m here._

It felt…well, if she was being honest, it felt absolutely idiotic. She was thinking thoughts at the inside of her own skull and praying to god they’d somehow float through the impenetrable wall of bone and into the Doctor’s mind. It was just her babbling to herself, like some childish take on reviving Tinkerbell. _Clap your hands if you believe you’ll somehow think your way into the Doctor’s head._

She sighed. This was pointless. Seconds were ticking by. She’d laid the copper, but she couldn’t place the call, and the Doctor wasn’t responding, so what-

That was the moment that something…thumped…against the side of her…imaginings. Physically it felt like a puff of air hitting her forehead, her skin prickling. But nothing real or tangible was touching her, so-

_Please?_

A strange feeling washed over her. _Pleasepleasepleaseplease?_ It begged, _Please? Please?_

_Please let me in?_

It…it really felt like her imagination playing tricks on her. It felt like she was subconsciously imagining that feeling. And yet. And yet…

It was the Doctor.

It was for him.

Which, really, changed everything, didn’t it?

Rose bit her lip. Yes, of course. Obviously he could come in.

The feeling of desperation and longing grew and grew at the periphery of her mind, like something was pressing against her skin, lightly enough that she wasn’t entirely sure it was real. It was starting to feel a bit more likely, but…

Maybe…

She imagined a door, then. Like in her dream. She’d opened a door, so maybe…she turned the handle on her imaginary door, and threw it open outwards.

Outside her mind, Rose heard the Doctor audibly gasp in a breath. It was ragged and it was desperate and it was halfway to a sob.

Something…touched. Inside of her mind, a feeling like a static spark from a carpet jumped up and tapped at her inside her skull. It was slightly painful- Rose had to stifle a small yelp- and then-

A torrent of feelings splashed in and puddled around her feet, relief chief among them. Desperation, pain, fear, terror…it all washed in, in uncontrolled waves…

The TARDIS’s hum grew louder, and Rose realized that she was hearing it inside her head as well as with her ears. Okay. None of this was her imagination. This was…this was real. This was happening.

She reached out for the strange tendrils that were poking through her door and, sort of, stroked them? Thought of warmth and love and safety and imagined handing those feelings to the strange alien shapes protruding through her door.

The Doctor physically shuddered.

Connection. He needed connection. She’d gone through the door before, maybe she could-

A spike of terror slammed into her like that time she’d stapled her thumb. The tendrils grabbed the edge of the door and started to close it, frantically, and Rose shook her head and mentally retreated from the door.

Okay. She wasn’t going to cross it, then. Boundaries, right. How would she feel if someone barged into her skull uninvited? Pretty hacked off, at best.

The man next to her physically relaxed, then. She heard his jacket rustle, a sharp exhale like he’d just uncoiled his shoulders. Rose smiled.

Love. He needed love. He needed to feel like he wasn’t alone, like he was connected…

It was such a strange sensation, operating in this head-space. She felt like she was just imagining things at him, like some kind of childish spin on that insipid Law of Attraction that some of the estate girls had raved about. Think what you wanted, and it’d come to you- or in this case, imagine you were wrapping the Doctor in a warm hug, and he’d-

-Verbally whimper and give off a wave of need so powerful it took Rose’s breath away.

Okay. Rose pulled up memories of holding him, of hugs, of warmth and touches and togetherness. They were better together, better with two- he wasn’t alone.

The strange mental echo of the TARDIS’s hum suggested that Rose wasn’t the only one trying, either.

The TARDIS’s hum was…strange, actually. Now she thought about it. It sounded almost like the old girl was…singing?

Feeling a bit silly, Rose decided to start humming. Nothing too complicated, something she was making up on the spot. Verbally humming, but letting the sound ring into her mind. Hoping it would help, somehow.

She followed along the TARDIS’s song for a little bit, mentally humming along to the ship’s strange, wordless melody- it calmed the Doctor, in a strange way, and she could feel the tension starting to uncoil from him.

Rose lost the melody when the TARDIS hummed something outside the range her throat could produce- so low and deep that no young woman could ever hope to follow. Instead, Rose threw her imaginary hands up and started to mentally hum along to some silly pop song she’d heard on the radio the last time she’d been home. If music helped, then surely any music would do.

And that, strangely, sent a waft of relief rolling off the Doctor, like the sudden disagreement was something he needed.

Rose was getting the sense that he was beginning to normalize. Perhaps now was the time for her to show him the coin-

The TARDIS’s hum verbally sharpened- striking Rose’s physical ears and sounding like a snarl. Okay, so apparently that was off the table. The coin could wait till later, then.

That change of thought broke Rose’s concentration and momentarily derailed her singing, and she hopped back into it. The brief break had the Doctor shuddering again, and when she resumed, he calmed.

Strange.

This went on for what could have been an eternity- with her eyes closed she couldn’t exactly check how long it had been. Focusing on one thing for so long was taxing her imagination to the limit, and it was a relief when Jack finally broke the spell by tapping her shoulder.

“Rosie?” he said quietly, and she let out a breath she’d been holding, eyes snapping open to look at him. Her head swam in confusion- processing what her eyes were seeing while still recovering from her mental exhaustion, not helped by the strange sensations of contact she was still feeling in the back of her head.

Jack pointed at the corridor, and it took Rose a few blinks to be entirely sure of what she was looking at.

The corridor entrance had been replaced by a door, painted a sterile hospital white. The door swung open as they stared at it, and the TARDIS hummed and blinked her lights at them.

“I think she wants us to take the Doc in there,” Jack said, and it took Rose a few seconds to process his words. This whole mental-connection thing was scrambling her thoughts up like eggs in a skillet.

Rose nodded slowly. To do that, she’d need to pull away from the Doctor’s head so she could help him to his-

He made a strangled half-cry, and to Rose’s shock, one of his very strong hands latched itself around her wrist, holding her hand firmly in place. He was still staring at the floor, still panting, but there was a desperate quiver to his posture- like he couldn’t bear to be parted.

He needed to let go. She wanted to help him, but to do that, he needed to let go…

Maybe…Maybe if they held hands…?

His grip relaxed a little, and a wave of relief flowed through the connection and into her mind. Holding hands was apparently just fine, or at least a sufficient stopgap.

Jack crouched down and slung one of the Doctor’s arms over his shoulder, and he slid his other arm over Rose’s shoulder without prompting. She was still touching his temple with one hand, the connection still there…

Jack was saying something as they all stood up together, helping the battered Time Lord stagger his way to the white room the TARDIS had found. A comforting scent of wilderness and water washed over them- the smell of a lake in the mountains just after the rain has passed, the sun warming the rocks and the land below. Peace. Safety. Life.

It instantly put Rose at ease, and the Doctor wasn’t far behind. His shoulders sagged as soon as he stepped into the room, and his knees turned to jelly underneath him. There was a sharp jerk and Rose found herself suddenly supporting half of a grown man’s weight. She staggered forward, trying to maintain her balance as she was nearly getting dragged down by the Doctor.

Jack stayed firm, keeping them all upright, and helped Rose lower the Doctor to the ground knees-first. The Doctor rolled himself onto his back once he was fully on the floor, closing his eyes immediately afterwards.

“Doctor?” Rose whispered, crouching down next to him.

_Need…I need to rest. I. Me. I need to rest…_

His voice floated through the air, some kind of telepathic transmission converted into verbal words. Rose nodded, looking at Jack- he’d clearly heard the Doctor too.

“Alright. We’ll…We’ll leave you to it, then.” Rose said awkwardly, backing out of the room and looking at the ceiling.

 _Help him,_ she thought to the TARDIS, _help him. He needs you._

The lights in the hallway flashed once, and a chiming noise rang through the air- the ship’s laugh, Rose supposed.

Still. He was safe. And that was all that really mattered. 

All at once, she felt exhausted. Running and jumping and fear and terror and alien insects and a rubbish breakfast all caught up with her at once. She stumbled away from Jack, intent on the galley.

“Rosie? Where you goin’?”

“Food. Then a shower. Then brush my teeth. Then a nap.” She sighed, “I’m so bloody tired, Jack.”

“Yeah. Let’s go get something to eat. I feel all of that.” Jack agreed.

It was just a short walk down the hallway to get to the galley- the TARDIS had moved her insides around again, back to a more normal configuration. The round-cornered ship door popped open as they approached, and a glorious smell wafted towards them that had Rose’s stomach rumbling.

She stepped inside, and her eyes brimmed with tears.

Two huge plates sat on the kitchen island, piping hot with steam rising off the top. The TARDIS very, very rarely cooked for them- Almost never, and when she did, it was usually in the form of calibrated nutrient bars to make up for any deficiencies her scanners had detected. Two steaming hot plates piled high with food was…unheard of.

Rose had only seen it once. On the night after the nightmare in Van Statten’s house of horrors, there’d been a full supper for herself and the Doctor- and some nutrient squares for Adam.

One plate had a giant load of sausages on top of some freshly-made mashed potatoes. A pot of gravy shimmered into existence beside it, as well as a silver bowl full of some strange fruits Rose had never seen before in her life. The second plate had a burger, homemade and home-grilled- minced onions and ground beef fashioned into a patty and fired over coals in a backyard, with a slice of tomato the width of her thumb and lettuce and onion and…

The whole thing was nested on a bed of chips, prompting Rose to immediately steal a fistful and put them on her plate.

“Hey! That’s my fries!” Jack protested, only to be distracted by a pint of beer and a bowl of salad shimmering into being beside it.

“…Oh, fine. Alright, you can have some.” Jack sighed, grabbing his plate and his beer and leading Rose to the kitchen table.

It took a few trips to get everything in place- during which time the TARDIS fashioned Rose a cup of tea, piping hot and just how she liked it- and the two humans wearily sat down to eat.

Rose was famished- and the bangers and mash were just what her soul was crying out for. Her mum used to make this recipe sometimes, when she had a little excess money to afford the really good sausages. A childhood favourite of hers.

Jack, meanwhile, was testing the hinge limits of the human jaw as he took bites of his burger that would put a python to shame.

Within a few shockingly short minutes, all the food was gone save for crumbs and sauces, and Jack sipped at his beer.

“Oh, thank god. That really hit the spot.” He sighed contentedly, leaning back in his chair.

“…Just what the Doctor ordered?” Rose suggested with a cheeky grin. She felt loads and loads better- finally, truly, FULL. It had been what, a day of running on adrenaline and various flavours of mush? And now, finally, the Doctor was…the Doctor was…

Rose’s face fell.

“Rose? Something wrong?” Jack put his beer down and leaned forward.

Rose stared at her plate.

“I shot him.” she blurted out, “I shot- I shot the Doctor, Jack. I...”

Jack reached across the table and took Rose’s hand.

“You had no choice.” He said firmly, “Don’t beat yourself up. It was a stun weapon, Rosie. He’s totally fine- not even a headache from that setting. It was entirely self-defence, and more importantly, it was for his own good. So: the Doctor’s fine, he was attacking you, and you were trying to help him. No court in the universe would throw the book at you for that one, trust me on that.”

Rose snorted, nodding a few times and squeezing Jack’s hand.

“That’s…that’s true, I guess. I didn’t want to, I just…”

“You had no choice. Trust me, he’ll thank you later when he’s feeling better.” Jack said firmly, squeezing her hand. Rose nodded, still processing.

Silence filled the air for a few moments.

Her mind rolled the clock back to the second she’d pulled the lever to throw them into the vortex. The Doctor’s piercing scream rang through her, now she had a moment to reflect on it, and Rose lifted her head and looked Jack in the eyes.

She dropped his hand and bit her lip.

“The Doctor. He’s…We freed him. He’s supposed to be better. But…that screaming. He screamed like he’d been shot or something. Did…do you think we hurt him?” Rose said softly.

“Hurt him?” Jack echoed, tilting his head and furrowing his brow, “…Oh. The screaming.”

“Yeah. That. And…in the cell, yesterday. He told us…he told us that pulling a telepath out of the hivemind could…kill them. Or…hurt them. Forever. I didn’t…I didn’t think about that…” She stared into her tea, as though the milky-brown liquid held the answers to her conundrum.

Jack shook his head.

“He’s gonna be pretty fucked up for a bit, if I had to guess,” Jack said smoothly, “But, Rose…you gotta understand, hurt or not, we did him a favour. He’s a goddamned Time Lord, Rose. You think he’s meant to be packed in a hole with a bunch of filthy insects? And he’s out now. He’s free. We did it.”

Rose nodded. That was true.

“We got the Doc out, and he’s home free. And you know him. He’s tough. He’ll be up and bitching at us in a few days, watch him.” Jack punctuated his point by taking a sip of beer. He wasn’t meeting Rose’s eyes.

Rose sighed and slurped at her tea. It had cooled down just enough to keep it from scalding her throat, and guzzling it greedily just felt better somehow.

“I hope so,” Rose said dubiously, rubbing her forehead, “He…he really scared me. They took him away from m- from us. And…there was a bit there where I wasn’t sure…”

Jack got up from his seat, leaving his beer on the table, and pulled up another seat next to Rose. He put an arm over her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug.

“I know, Rosie. I know. But he’s out now, and he’s free. And…if it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure that hive’s not long for the world. Without the Doc and the TARDIS, they’re not gonna have any more supplies coming in, ever. Or if they do, it won’t be enough and it won’t be when they need them. He’s safe now, Rose. We’re all safe.”

Rose nodded, swallowing a lump of tears and burying her head in Jack’s shoulder.

They sat there in silence for a bit, just…being. The TARDIS’s hum whirred away in the background, a constant reminder that the Doctor was safe. That they were ALL safe.

Jack uncurled after a few moments, stretching his arms.

“You feeling better?”

Rose nodded. The urge to cry on Jack’s shirt had gone along with the last of the adrenaline jitters, and now she just felt tired.

“M’ gonna go take a shower,” Rose mumbled, standing up, and Jack nodded.

“Yeah. Me too.”

They left the dishes in the kitchen- normally they’d have to load the dishwasher, but right now Rose was just too tired- and traipsed down the hall together, towards the bedrooms. The TARDIS helpfully opened both doors, one on either side of the hallway, and Rose stepped towards hers and bit her lip.

“It’s alright, Rosie,” Jack assured her, “We got away safely. It’s alright.”

Rose nodded and stepped inside her room.

The door closed behind her, and she sighed.

Right.

Shower, then brush her teeth, then a nap. She deserved it.

Rose stepped into the washroom and shrugged off her hoodie, letting it drop to the floor- where it sharply clinked against the white tile.

She stopped and knelt down, grabbing for the pocket. Wasn’t that the-

She pulled out the coin, holding it up as it glinted in the light. She held it to her chest.

Shower, then brush her teeth, then a nap. And then she’d give it to him, no matter what the TARDIS tried to say.

She’d promised to keep this part of him safe, and she wasn’t going to let him down.

* * *

Rose stepped out of the shower half an hour later, smelling floral and clean and feeling so much better about herself.

It was as she was scrubbing two day’s worth of alien grime and slime off her teeth that her eyes fell on the coin again.

Rose furrowed her brow as she rinsed and spat. Right. Before bed, she needed to give that to the Doctor. She needed to know he was back to normal. She-

She needed him back. All of him.

She took a moment to throw on some clean clothes, stepping back into the washroom to grab the pound coin and stuffing it into her jeans pocket.

The lights overhead flickered, and Rose smiled.

Well, that was basically an endorsement, wasn’t it?

She stepped out of her room a moment later, looking left and right up the quietly humming hallways. The lights to her right flickered, and Rose nodded and walked that way.

The TARDIS guided her down a few halls in a similar fashion, flickering her lights and letting Rose follow the flashy trail all the way to the strange white door. It clicked open in front of her, and she stepped inside.

_Rose._

The Doctor was still laying on the floor of the whitish room, eyes closed and breathing slow and steady. His mental voice was warm and loving, and yet slightly strained- like it was a struggle for him to speak.

Him still being semi-conscious put a bit of a spanner in her plan to give him the coin back, but it wasn’t important. She could always give it to him when he felt better- or just leave it on the floor for him to find when he woke up properly.

Rose walked over and sat down beside him with her legs crossed.

“Hello, Doctor.” She whispered, “How- how are you doing?”

_Tired. My head hurts. I need…_

“What do you need?” Anything. Anything he needed. It was such a relief to ‘hear’ his voice- despite the strain, he was alive. And referring to himself as ‘I’- it brought a lump of tears to her throat. The Doctor, her Doctor, was back. She wanted to snuggle up into his side and hold him, let him know that it was alright…

_Contact. I need you to…my head. Let me…connect. The TARDIS…been helping me. Helped me stabilize. Need to…connect. Need to recover…_

Rose nodded, reaching out without hesitation and touching her two fingers to his temple.

She closed her eyes, and in her mind, imagined throwing a door open.

The Doctor on the floor sighed and sagged into the floor. Rose felt a presence seeping through the door again, swirling around her in her mind’s eye. It was a strange, faint sensation- like something she was only half-imagining, a lot weaker than the first time.

It was starting to occur to her that this might be a bad idea. Could he go rummaging around in her-?

_No. Well. Yes. But it’s…hard. Human minds…not easy. To get inside. I can’t hear.. anything you don’t think at me. Not... unless you let me in deeper._

His voice was clearer, now, even if it was still strained. Rose relaxed a bit. Good. She stroked the strange, swirling presence in her mind, running warm thoughts and affection against it- she wanted to cuddle up against him, keep him company while he rested in this…place.

 _Yes. That. Please. Don’t stop._ He sighed.

Good. She wasn’t going to. Rose imagined running her fingers through his short hair, like it was a movie night and he had his head in her lap while he fiddled with something on his chest- an intimate little moment that she treasured deeply. It made her feel warm and safe and loved.

The Doctor hummed.

Where was this room? was it helping him heal? She hoped so. He already felt so much more coherent, with the faint wisps of him that swirled under her mental fingertips.

_Zero room._

She nodded, and smiled.

It was a bit of a strain to keep doing this- something inside her mind didn’t feel entirely comfortable with maintaining focus on one task for so very long. It was tiring, keeping the door open, connecting with the wisps that the Doctor allowed to poke through the door- but he needed it. He desperately needed it.

 _Thank you, Rose._ He whispered, _Precious girl. Keeping me…sane._

Rose snorted. Sane. Sure.

A soft chuckle rumbled out of the Doctor. Audible, not telepathic.

She smiled.

She lost track of time as they sat there, tendrils from the edge of his thoughts mingling with hers. Eventually, the miasma floating through the door stroked her back- a feeling like a ghostly hand running through her hair.

_Help me?_

Of course.

The Doctor’s presence wrapped around her mental hand and pulled it, gently, towards the door. Like a toddler tugging on her trouser leg. He led her through the divide, and then across it- a strange, sparking sensation under her mental fingertips. Not her whole awareness- her body was still on her side of the door, but her arm had been pulled through into the blackness beyond.

Her mental fingertips rested on something wet and squelchy and cracked.

Rose shuddered- and so did the Doctor. He whimpered, and Rose tried to pull back- but whatever was gripping her mental hand held fast.

She was hurting him, why wouldn’t he-

 _Helps. Hurts, but it helps. Need…connection. Telepathic centres. Sudden disconnect…hurts. Need connection to fix them._ He choked, _TARDIS can do it, too, but this…makes it go faster._

Rose nodded.

The ship’s hum pitched up, and warmth wrapped around her mental arm and sank into her skin. A taste like gold dust gathered on her tongue in time with the ship’s singing- under her mental hand, she could feel the warm presence sinking into whatever it was she was ‘touching’.

_Thank you._

They stayed connected like that, the TARDIS singing and Rose stretched across her mental door, until finally the Doctor spoke up.

Aloud.

“Enough.” He croaked.

The miasma pushed Rose’s hand back through the door, the connection severing- and Rose sucked in a gasp of air. She was suddenly exhausted- it was like the mental effort she’d been expending to keep the connection open had seeped into all her arms and legs. Add to that the fact that she still hadn’t gotten that desperately-needed nap, and Rose suddenly found her eyelids sagging.

She blinked a few times and shook her head. No. She was going to take her nap here, curled up against the man she loved- so he wouldn’t have to be alone. He didn’t need to be alone anymore. But before that…

Rose shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out the coin, craning her neck up to look the Doctor in the eyes.

“Here,” she mumbled, thrusting the coin at him and letting it tumble into his hand.

The Doctor sat up as Rose sagged against him, her eyelids already sagging as she snuggled in. The coin was heavy in his palm, and he blinked a few times, staring at it.

Under the bright white lights, the etching of thistles growing through a crown was unmistakeable, a defining scratch on the coin's face cementing its identity. This was the coin he'd used- and in the depths of his mind, it turned a key and snapped open a lock.

The Doctor gasped as a torrent of repressed memories flooded over him- how to fly the TARDIS, the names of his companions, time travel, the concept of regeneration- hundreds of things he’d locked away in fear of what the Polyergus might do with that knowledge, all flooding over him all at once. He flopped back on the suddenly-soft floor, the coin falling from his fingertips and rolling to a stop against his hip. It was so much to take in, all at once. 

As it rattled to a halt on its side, he stared up at the ceiling, mentally struggling to process all that had just been unearthed. His neurons were still tender from the wound the Polyergus had dealt, but-

Rose snuggled into his side, her breathing already smooth and even. He needed to resume his healing sleep. He needed to get back to normal. He needed…

The Doctor clenched his free arm into a fist.

He needed more rest. And then. And then he could do what needed to be done.

He closed his eyes and let Rose rest her head on his chest, letting her slow, steady breathing rock him off to sleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I acknowledge and understand that the canonical Zero Room as used in Castrovalva was said to smell like rose petals and only rose petals. And while that would be great for my ship and great thematically, the smell of rose petals irritates my nose. As a result, I reject your canon and substitute my own. After the rain in the wilderness is a better smell. 
> 
> Also the Zero Room got nuked a couple times, so the Doctor rebuilt it into this less shitty version. That's my explanation, hope you liked it. 
> 
> Anyway. This chapter. Hoo boy. And the next few. Hoo boy. Hate to use the "in case of no Friday update, expect on Monday" card again, but the backlog's been dead for awhile due to a bunch of reasons, And this next chapter has a lot of intricate plot shit...as well as intricate emotional shit. Basically what I'm saying is there's been a lot of rewrites. So, uh, if the next chapter is late, I'm sorry, expect it on Monday. Again. Probably won't happen, but if it does, y'know. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all liked it! This was a tricky one to get right, and I'm pretty sure I stuffed a few bits up here and there. Let me know your thoughts- I love them all, even if I'm a lazy shit at replying to them.


	22. Formica japonica

The Doctor crawled back to consciousness with a whimper, bleary eyes blinking open in confusion and fluttering closed a second later. His head was pounding, the pain of an injury that rocked deep stabbing red-hot nails into his mind. Seconds ticked by and the pain abated slightly, but still he was distracted. Strange sensations assaulted him from all directions, like he was laying on something soft and covered by it, too.

Something warm was pressed against his front. Something warm and breathing that smelled like Rose. He cuddled the warm thing closer, his arms wrapped around her tummy and chest, and subconsciously let his forehead touch the back of her head.

The craving for contact was roaring up in his blood, like a car’s engine growling to life. Rose. Rose was safe, Rose was warm, Rose would help him. Rose would help.

He felt her stir in his arms, momentary confusion in her struggling posture, before she relaxed.

“Morning, Doctor,” Rose mumbled sleepily, and he just sucked in a breath and pressed his forehead against the back of her skull with renewed effort.

She was his partner, instinct was screaming, why wasn’t she letting him in? He reached out with his mind, calling to her as his people had done since they first evolved. He sang to her, of him, of them, his own variant of the Song as a calling card, as he knocked against her walls with a steady drumming in time with his hearts. He needed to feel her, needed to feel connection, needed- needed-

_Please, Rose, please let me in._

The woman in his arms sighed and wriggled around until she was facing him, lost in the leather and wool and blankets. He could still feel the faintest eddy of her mind as she turned, the warm, even tones of a human mind evident even through her skin- 

Hold on, blankets?

Didn’t matter. Connection. He needed her.

He leaned towards her without any preamble, pressing their foreheads together and sighing deeply at the relief that flooded him. Touching like this, he could hear the soft hums and ticks of her mind, pulsing away just under the surface. He reached out again, singing for her, instinct and desperation driving his actions as he reached out to touch-

And slammed up against a wall of solid steel. He couldn’t get through. Desperation drove him to slam against the wall, begging, pleading- he loved her, why were her shields up, why, why, WHY?!

A door shimmered into being beside him, and he waited for a moment, waiting for it to open. Instinct rankled- the shields should fall, there shouldn’t be a hole, this wasn’t-

And then he was surging through the door and instinct promptly shut up.

Heat swirled around him, warmth and love, and he felt every atom of stress and terror leak out of his body all at once. His partner was here, he was touching her mind, and it was alright. It was alright.

Rose’s mind swirled with the chaotic emotional eddies of the human brain. Logic and intellect could come up trumps, sure, but when the chips were down, a human’s emotions surged up and took the reins. He could feel them swirling all around his mental fingertips, the soft undulations in their tone sending a shiver down his spine. Anger sang differently to happiness, but right now the emotion doing the most humming was calm-love-sleepy-happy.

Her specific thoughts were too far away for him to touch, but that was alright. He didn’t care.

The Doctor started to sing in his own mind, an instinctive desire to join his partner, help her shape their Song and kept Time ticking. Rose didn’t reciprocate immediately- a few seconds that left him reeling in confusion- but when her voice rose up to join his, it sent waves of relief and calm flooding through his body.

He could feel the ache in his telepathic centres start to abate, the dull thudding of the freshly-torn wound lessening with every second. It was helping more than Rose could ever know, to lay together in a tangle of sheets, singing together.

Her voice wasn’t as clear as his- there was an eddy of amusement and self-doubt swirling in her mind. Fragments of sentences drifted to him- _Is this really helping? I’m just humming to myself in my head…_

He chuckled and pulled her close. Rose, precious Rose, always thinking, always wanting to know. _Yes,_ he whispered to her, his first word since waking, _helping me so much…._

The TARDIS joined in a moment later, her steady rhythm pulsing away under their duet. She could see the length and breadth of time, and as a result the Song of a TARDIS was always far less turbulent than a Time Lord’s.

Rose lost her focus a moment after that, leaving the Doctor with a sensation like a slap to the face- that stung, for the few seconds it took her to recollect her thoughts and start singing along to some 80’s rock tune that she’d heard on Jack’s music player.

And that, really, was what he actually craved. Disagreement, discord, debate. His people never got along, not entirely, and it felt so good to hear the rebuke and the retort and a new argument in his mind.

Well, “argument”- “Wind Him Up” was a bit of a stretch, but music was music and it soothed his soul just to hear it.

He could feel his strength returning, his mind’s coherency recovering- slowly, very slowly, he reached for the blooms of her mind and grasped them gently, pulling her towards the door, pulling her into his mind. Abruptly, Rose stopped singing, but her presence inside his head more than made up for that. He pulled her towards his telepathic centers, clenching his teeth and bracing for the pain-

She made contact, and it stung sharply- but it was a good pain, a clean pain. The touch of another mind against his was like a therapist pushing a dislocated shoulder back into place- a sharp spike, and then warmth and relief as things aligned as they should. Angry muscles in his back relaxed, and the burn softened to a level that it was almost comforting.

He could feel the warmth and love spreading through the connection, spreading wherever her mind touched. Helping him. Healing him.

The TARDIS sang her assent as they touched, Time itself apparently putting its stamp of approval on things.

Eventually, though, Rose’s thoughts started to flag. The door in her mind flickered, and a sharp spike of hunger and discomfort trickled through their bond. The Doctor sighed wearily, wrapping her presence up and gently pushing her back through the door, into her own mind. The ache was still there- but lessened, now. Greatly lessened.

He felt her body shift around and say things, and he just nodded. This burst of wakefulness was too much for his healing brain. He needed more sleep.

His consciousness started to drift off, but the last thing he felt was Rose’s lips kissing his cheek.

* * *

Time, strangely enough for a Time Lord, rather stopped after that.

The Doctor drifted in and out of consciousness, sleeping for spans of time he didn’t have any knowledge of. Only the TARDIS’s gentle assurances that it was alright, that it was as it should be, kept him from panic.

Rose was there, when he woke. Rose, summoned by his magnificent, wonderful ship. Rose, in his arms and his mind, helping him as he guided her touch. The contact of a human mind against his own helped, like ointment to heal the burn. Another Time Lord would have been best, the Song of Time best of all, but…

He had to make do. And Rose was more than making do. 

He guided her, letting her love and her song bathe over his weary mind. Her love was a powerful medicine, igniting his telepathic centres with a good hurt, like re-setting a dislocated joint. Pulling her silly songs inside his mind, pulling the fringes of her consciousness… it made his mind feel whole again, like he wasn’t alone. Blunting, just for a moment, the endless scream of his long-dead race.

Her touch against the wound helped to suture it, helped to cauterize the injury and slowly seal it up. It wasn’t fully healed- perhaps it would never be- but it was helping. It was the therapy he needed to get back to full strength.

And when she grew tired of the contact, when her focus failed and the door began to flicker, the Doctor guided her back into her mind, and he drifted back into a healing sleep.

And while he slept, the TARDIS continued her gentle song. Rocking away the nightmares and carrying him in her currents. Helping him repair himself, just as he repaired her.

Time passed.

And the Doctor healed.

* * *

He opened his eyes fully and blinked at the ceiling.

The soft thing was still below him, and the Doctor patted at it.

Blankets?

He blinked and looked around the room, as much as he could see from his reclining position. 

The empty room he’d fallen asleep in had changed. Instead, it was like the TARDIS had moved all the furniture from his bedroom into the Zero Room- except, all of it remade in sterile white coral, and with all the knickknacks and clutter that festooned every flat surface cleared off for the first time in centuries. He was laying in his four-poster bed, remade in white with draping white sheets, and beyond that he could see a dead ringer for his worktable and chair and dresser.

The Doctor stared at the collection of clutter, closing his eyes and trying to get some grasp on his frazzled time sense. No dice- it was like it had shut off completely while he’d been out.

Still, he felt better. Coherent. Alive. Himself.

Him…himself.

The Doctor sat up slowly and wrapped his arms around himself, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw.

The Polyergus had taken all of him. Every last scrap of his body, mind, and soul, stolen from him and used to further their ends. They’d forced him to attack his friends and enslave other people. They’d castigated him for his failures by stripping him of his sense of self, tearing his mind apart and using it for a toy.

That couldn’t be allowed to stand.

The TARDIS’s hum sharpened in his mind, her gentle golden touch roughening slightly. Her version of an angry scold.

No. He’d be fine. He didn’t need more rest, he needed…he needed…

The Doctor pushed the bedsheets away and sat up, instantly feeling a wave of dizziness. Okay, plans could wait. When was the last time he’d eaten?

The TARDIS hummed, and as he lay down, a pop-up table with two legs shimmered into the air above his lap. Something for serving the sick when they couldn’t get out of bed.

He sat up slowly, blinking at the assortment of food the ship had provided. Some nibbles from earth- a cut up banana in a bowl, along with some other soft Earth fruits- and various thin and weak foods that he’d liked from all corners of the galaxy. Lukewarm Zamanian soup next to some Irricanite salad, and some soft crackers he’d seen on Burstall-6.

He sighed up at the ceiling, and slowly tucked into his TARDIS-approved meal. As he did, though, he closed his eyes and reached out for her. Sang the notes of his demand, which she rebuffed with a short solo of her own. They argued in their song for a few moments, the squabbles of the long-wed played out in their minds, until finally a compromised was reached.

He’d stay and rest a bit longer- and she would capitulate.

The desk across the room began to shimmer, as did the Doctor’s bedside table- dozens of gizmos and gadgets and little pieces of golden metal appeared on the desk. A cracked pewter mug with #1 GRANDPA carved on the side glimmered into being at the top of the desk, a collection of old sonic screwdrivers bristling from its top like flowers in a vase. The Doctor smiled, swallowing a lump of his cracker and putting the wrapper down on the tray. He looked to his side, eyes falling on the bedside table, where one final thing was taking its sweet time to appear.

The iron collar fully solidified and fell the half-centimeter to the table surface with a clunk. It was still unclipped, and the TARDIS growled a little as he stared at it.

He reached out to her gratefully, sending waves of his love and appreciation down their connection. The TARDIS hummed back, and he smiled and tucked into his soup.

His mind was still subconsciously reaching out for the hivemind as he ate, a gulf the TARDIS stepped in and filled without asking. The Doctor didn’t notice as he tucked into his meal- and she hummed to herself.

He finished in record time- apparently he’d been hungry- and the TARDIS dissolved the dishes and the tray table away to their respective storage cupboards. The Doctor took the opportunity to slip out of his shoes, jacket, and trousers, letting them fall to the floor in a messy pile. And, true to his word, he curled up and went to sleep.

* * *

According to the little watch her mother had given her, it had been five days since they’d escaped. And a full day since Rose had last seen the Doctor. Probably. Time was a bit weird on the TARDIS, and their best source of timekeeping had spent most of that time sound asleep- or doing one of his odd mind-melds.

Those ‘telepathy sessions’ as Rose had started calling them, usually finished up in her having a headache- but they really helped the Doctor. He even looked better physically, which was as close to a miracle as you could hope for.

But the last day had been without the TARDIS interrupting whatever she was doing with a gentle hum and a flicker of the lights, and she hadn’t been summoned to the Doctor’s room for another session.

She’d assumed he was better now, and just sleeping the effects of the last session off- it tracked with what she’d seen in the library. Jack had found some medical books about telepathic injuries- apparently wanting to sleep excessive amounts was an extremely common symptom, and a good sign that the patient was healing.

So it was a bit of a shock when she walked by the Zero Room, en route to the galley, and heard the Doctor cry out in pain.

Rose slammed the door of the Zero room open and poked her head in.

He was lying in the bed, sheets pulled up to his chest, eyes closed and a look of extreme concentration on his face.

“Again. Abrupt.” The Doctor said verbally. The powerful hum of the TARDIS cut off sharply- yet the faintest ghost of it dribbled through the air. The Doctor ground his teeth and hissed out a breath, clutching his head in his hands- He was shivering like it was frightfully cold, too, a truly gut-wrenching sight to see. A second later, the hum returned, just as powerful as it had been before. He relaxed- but not before Rose had already leapt into the room in a panic.

“Doctor! What are you doing?!” Rose spluttered, eyes wide and ready to charge over there and, and-

The Doctor held up a finger to stop her, letting his hand flop down against the sheets a moment later, and for a second Rose thought she had gotten through to him.

Then the silly bastard opened his mouth again.

“Alright. Again. Gradual.” He said to the ceiling, and the TARDIS whined mournfully.

Nevertheless, her hum started to dwindle away to nothing, second over second. It was such a slow transition that Rose hardly realized what was happening. The Doctor’s look of discomfort grew as time went on, but it was nothing like the gasping and shuddering from moments earlier. The hum dropped away to nothing, and the Doctor yelped- only for the hum to kick back up to full speed, with an irate edge to it.

He was panting, sitting up in the mountains of white sheets, and Rose rushed to his side.

“Doctor!”

She grabbed his hand and his shoulder, looking him dead in the eyes- and she was furious.

“You’re supposed to be RESTING!” she snapped, “Doctor, whatever the hell you’re doing- stop it! Cut it out, right now!”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking at Rose in desperation.

“I _was_ resting. This is more important than rest.” He said flatly, letting go of her hand and closing his eyes again.

The fact that he was awake and verbally speaking was a huge improvement, but Rose wasn’t about to take that as an excuse. Mickey had once ignored a toothache, claiming it wasn’t that bad, and he’d come terrifyingly close to dying of an abscessed tooth. Getting things looked at in time and healing up after was important, and guy who called himself _the Doctor_ should know that.

“What could possibly be more important than you getting better? You’ve been asleep for a bloody week, and now you’re torturing yourself?!” Rose folded her arms and glared at him.

“A week?” the Doctor blinked at her a few times, and sighed. “Rose…”

“No. Don’t- you-“ her voice failed, and her shoulders slumped.

She sat down on the bed by his legs, taking one of his hands in hers and holding it to her chest.

“I just want you better.” She said with a sniffle, “They- You’ve been on the mend for the last few days, but I want you back to…to…normal.”

The Doctor stared at her, and nodded once. Something dark was swirling behind his eyes, something that vanished when he next blinked.

“Alright.” He said softly, “I must’ve given you quite the scare…”

“Yeah. You did. You had me…terrified. If it weren’t for the TARDIS calling us to come and help you out…” Rose sighed and let his hand drop.

“I don’t want to lose you.” she said firmly, “And I want you to get better. Promise me you’ll rest up, Doctor.”

He stared into her eyes for so long it started to feel awkward, finally blinking and looking away. The storm behind his eyes cleared, a softness and warmth blossoming there that Rose was quite familiar with.

“I don’t deserve you,” he mumbled, “Alright, Rose. You’ve got a point. I’ll rest up. I was just finishing my testing anyway.”

Rose folded her arms.

“I mean it, Doctor. You need a rest. Don’t just- brush it off and pretend like you’re better when you’re not. And what testing was that, anyway?”

“It’s not important. I’ll get some rest, Rose. Thanks for you concern, but it isn’t necessary. I’ll be fine.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “And that is exactly WHY I’m concerned…”

The Doctor shook his head and grinned at her.

“You don’t need to be. I’ll be fine, me. Tough as nails, you know that. Now, go on and go get something to eat- you haven’t eaten in awhile, have you? I’ll just be here, resting up.”

It was blatantly obvious that he was sending her away for some reason, and Rose wasn’t sure if she should fight him on it or go and find Jack. That, and there was all that clutter all over the desk, that he’d clearly asked the TARDIS to move into his room…

Her stomach growling rather settled the matter. She narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger at him.

“I’ll go. But you better be resting when I get back, got that?”

“Yes Ma’am,” the Doctor said with a cheeky smile.

Rose sighed and stepped out of the room, glancing back one last time before the door swung closed behind her.

As soon as she left, the wide grin on the Doctor’s face vanished, and his brow furrowed into a scowl.

His eyes fell on the assortment of parts that were scattered across his desk.

He looked up at the ceiling, and the TARDIS whined- and fell silent.

The shape of a wheelchair faded into the air beside his bed, the glimmer of teleporting matter solidifying a moment later. Not that he couldn’t walk, but best not to push his luck. The Doctor smiled up at the ceiling, reaching out for it.

Perfect. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I find myself having to divide a chapter into pieces due to obscene length, and also because the second half of this is so many wisps in the wind. In any case, here's some more fluffy fluff as opposed to plotty plot. I hope you like it. 
> 
> No essays this time. Just the usual: Let me know your thoughts! If you liked it or hated it or spotted a mistake, let me know.


	23. Polyergus sanwaldi

After a quick stop by the kitchen to grab a sausage and a bag of chips, Rose was on a mission. She found Jack in the Seashore Room, laying on the rocks as the saltwater lapped against them. The far wall was some distance away and was painted to look like midday on an island on Earth- a perfect place to read a book or paint one’s nails.

Jack was playing with a little handheld gaming device from the 51st century that had better resolution than Mickey’s playstation. Neither of them had had a lot to do the last week, since they couldn’t move the TARDIS out of the vortex or meaningfully speed up the Doctor’s recovery. What that meant was that Rose had binged a lot of television and Jack had spent a lot of time fiddling with his game console.

“Hey Rosie. What’s up?” Jack glanced up from his game, “Hold up, can’t save in the middle of a battle…”

A few more presses of the little device’s buttons, and Jack was smiling with the calm contentment of someone that had just won. He sat up and tucked the little device in his pocket, quirking an eyebrow at Rose.

“We need to talk to the Doctor.” Rose said firmly, “He’s being stupid. I walked in on him torturing himself or something like that, and every table in the Zero Room is covered in bits and bobs. He’s up to something, I just know it.”

Jack sighed and stood up, stretching his arms until they cracked, and nodding at Rose.

“That’s a problem. You’d think he’d take it easy after being barely conscious for a week straight.”

Rose nodded and gestured for Jack to follow her, and the two of them stepped out of the room.

The TARDIS’s hum sharpened behind them.

* * *

The TARDIS sent swirling images the Doctor’s mind of Rose and Jack approaching the Zero room, and he sighed and pleaded with her to make their journey a bit more tedious. Not now. He didn’t need them now.

She growled in reply, an angry buzz instead of a hum, but the Doctor stuck to his guns; and she slowly relented. Fine, the TARDIS seemed to say, fine, but on your own head be it.

That suited him just perfect, really.

He needed time to get ready.

The Doctor shaped the little bits of a putty-like substance into two brick-shaped bars, tapering the tops into a point. It felt good to have something under his fingers, something bending to _his_ will and not the other way around. With the two bars done, he grabbed some electrical tape and wrapped them together with a nod, pressing them into the golden box and smiling to himself when they fit.

The smile didn’t last very long.

He had to do this. He had to. Don’t think about it. Just keep going forward. Don’t think about it.

Just keep running.

He snorted. It was a bit hard to keep running while he was sitting in a wheelchair, kicking his legs just to feel it rock back and forth- but hey, better than nothing. Running, running, always running…

And now would be no different. Rose wanted him to stop and stay still and rest up, and he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

He’d done something unforgivable, a new crime to add to the tower of things he’d done and would never atone for. But this time…this time was different. This time, he wasn’t going to run away from his mistake. What they had done to him and countless others could not go unpunished. What he’d done would not be forgiven until he made amends.

He’d left victims in his wake- on purpose, by his own hand. That couldn’t be allowed to stand. No matter what it took, he’d correct that mistake.

He opened another box full of broken TARDIS chips and grabbed one that looked about right for what he wanted to do. Even broken, the finger-sized Gallifreyan PCB would put a supercomputer on Earth to shame. And this one was out of date, by his people’s…

…His…people’s…

The Doctor clenched his jaw and swallowed the lump of tears that rose to the back of his throat. No. Don’t think about that.

It was all fresh in his mind again. It was all back in his head again. And he had to think about it, had to dwell on it…

_No._

His eyes fell on the circuit board, taking a deep breath and shoving all those emotions away.

Focus. He had a job to do. He had to finish this, before Rose and Jack came barging in. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

His conscience wouldn’t allow any more delays, not without devouring him alive.

He started to solder on some wires to the chip, bypassing the broken bits and using his sonic to adjust some of the settings. This chip was so primitive, but it was just what he needed for this little device. Able to do fifteen things at once- every layer of Silico-plastinate was its own separate board, with an integrated microprocessor on every layer, and…

No. Don’t think about Gallifrey. Don’t think about it.

Solder on the wires. Good. Reprogram the chip. Good. Protruding wires, that was important. Solder those on, even an ape would be able to affix this where it needed to go.

He reached blindly for one of his old sonics, his hand falling on the third one he’d ever made. A rounded circle on top, very funky and silly-looking- but it was the cup that caught his eye again.

Susan.

Stop, stop thinking about it, STOP.

He had a job to do.

They couldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

The Doctor scowled, soldering the last wire in place, and reached for the neural relay.

* * *

“Is it just me, or is the TARDIS suddenly a lot more labyrinth-y?” Jack wondered aloud as they took a turn down yet another weird windy hallway. It was like the TARDIS had gotten bored and done her very best impression of the human brain, folding every corridor into a billion wavy lines to pack them as close together as possible.

“No, it’s not just you. She’s being deliberately windy. And I think I know who the culprit is. Like I said, he’s up to something and we’ve got to stop him.” Rose said with a groan. She stopped walking down the endless corridor and pressed one hand to the wall, closing her eyes and thinking at the TARDIS.

Thoughts of the Doctor, pushing himself too far. Thoughts of him hanging by handcuffs from the railing, utterly slumped and nearly dead. Images of him screaming in pain when they took off.

He needed them, she beseeched the TARDIS, and the ship hummed thoughtfully.

Rose opened her eyes, and the sharp left-hand turn had smoothed out into the familiar straight hallway.

“Man, you’ve got to teach me how to do that,” Jack said appreciatively, “would sure be handy if I could ask her for stuff…”

“You just sort of…think thoughts at her. And then she hopefully listens.” Rose replied, “S’not guaranteed that she will or won’t, mind you.”

Jack nodded, turning and leading her back down the hallway towards the Zero Room.

“So what was he doing exactly?” Jack asked, the door they were after growing closer with every step.

“Dunno. Lying back and doing something with the TARDIS. Looked a lot like torturing himself to me. He was all, “Again, abrupt” and then “again, gradual” and both times the TARDIS did something, and it hurt him….” Rose sighed and rubbed her forehead.

Jack nodded, his expression darkening.

“Sounds like the Doc’s in need of an intervention. Good thing we’re here, then. He needs to cut out the self-flagellation crap and focus on getting better.”

They approached the door, and Jack grabbed the handle and threw it open without any hesitation. He stepped inside, Rose following close behind, and folded his arms.

“Doctor,” Jack growled, “What the fuck are you doing?”

He was sitting in an old-fashioned wheelchair, scooted up to the all-white desk and fiddling with something in his hands. At the sound of Jack’s voice, the Doctor jerked up straight and shoved whatever he was working on into the pile of parts, grabbing one of the wheels and spinning it around so he could see his two human companions.

“Working on something. You ever heard of knocking?” the Doctor snapped in annoyance, folding his arms and scowling at them.

“Yeah, we have. It’s not our fault that you’re up and about and- and- tinkering with things! You’re not listening, Doctor. You promised me you’d rest!” Rose snapped, and the Doctor’s face fell.

“I’m sorry.” He said with a sigh, “I’m sorry, Rose. I just can’t… I have to do this.”

“Have to do what? What’s more important than getting better? Doctor, you’re in a wheelchair!” Rose protested, and Jack wisely took a step back.

The Doctor turned his back to them again and started fiddling with a golden box, flipping it over and twiddling his sonic to a new setting. He gripped it like a pen, light down, and started to scrawl on the metal- the sound waves engraving the metal in a series of interlocking circles.

“I’m just in this thing because I’m tired, that alright?” he growled, “I can walk just fine. I’m just…tired. I need to finish this, and then I’ll go back and rest. I promise.”

“Oh, and now I’m supposed to believe you? You’re just saying that so we’ll go away!” Rose spat, and Jack found himself wondering why the hell he was there. He hadn’t signed on to mediate a fucking domestic.

The Doctor sighed and switched off his sonic, finished engraving whatever it was into the case. He grabbed the thing he’d shoved under a pile of bits, staring at it for a moment, before pivoting his wheelchair to face them.

Rose gasped.

“And why the fuck do you still have that?” Jack snapped, gesturing at the iron collar the Doctor was clutching, “Doc, throw that thing into a goddamn black hole or something, for fuck’s sake!”

The Doctor looked up slowly, his face utterly blank.

He didn’t reply, and didn’t reply, and the silence stretched on and on. The Doctor was staring at them, eyes flicking from Rose to Jack, some unfathomable calculus going on behind his ancient blue eyes. After an interminable amount of time, the Doctor stared at Jack, just as Rose was about to interrupt.

“Do you know what these relays are for, Jack?” the Doctor said slowly.

“I dunno. Enslaving sentients? Who gives a fuck, Doc. What it’s meant to do doesn’t matter when it’s used like that. You’ve got to-“

“They’re designed for touch telepaths, like me or a Vex. And they’re designed as a safety system- high-speed communication in dangerous situations. This one’s of Vespiform design, for a humanoid client- there’s the Grand Tobrax Hive maker’s mark there, on the back. This one’s intended for mining. Lets touch-telepaths simulate a ‘true’ hivemind over a short area, to a degree. If a mineshaft falls in, it helps you locate workers, speeds up communication…just makes everything a lot safer.” He swallowed, and his expression darkened. Jack opened his mouth, not expecting to be talked over, and redoubled his efforts.

“Yeah, great, that still doesn’t explain why you’ve got that one there-“ Jack started, only for the Doctor to roll right over him, his lecture utterly unchanged.

“It is NOT intended for use by telepathic species to enslave non-telepathic ones. These collars are an aberration. They’re being deliberately misused by a people that have painted themselves into a corner and as a result been forced to go beyond the bonds of what is natural and normal for them. Polyergus enslave telepaths, that’s true, but they’ve never been Wreckers and they’ve never enslaved touch telepaths.” The Doctor’s voice petered out, and Jack and Rose blinked at each other.

“You’re deflecting. What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“Their hives are typically pretty small, and they’re not supposed to devour everything,” the Doctor continued after a moment, and Rose’s eyes went wide, “Cordycepa is a tropical planet, Jack. That means it’s always hot, always ‘summer’ to them. Polyergus are from a temperate world with seasons- I saw it in their collective mind. There’s a faint instinctive voice, wondering when winter will be, wondering when it’s time to sleep. And that gives the plants and animals and their hosts time to rest, recover, repopulate. On Cordycepa, there was no winter. There was no impetus for them to go to sleep. So they didn’t. They just kept going, devouring everything in their path, clearcutting a continent’s forests to rear their young and fill the sky with their queens.”

Rose planted a hand on Jack’s arm to stop him piping up, because the Doctor’s face had gone quite red during his ranting.

“And the queens, oh, the queens. Can’t make a queen without plants. Some compound in their saliva breaks down chlorophyll. Any worker can do that, so you shove a load of leaves in their mouth and they sit around chewing on it like a big stupid chitinous cow. Then you take that mush and give it to a replete and it’ll ferment a bit in their abdomen and turn into psychic honey. How much you give to a larvae determines what they’ll grow into, you see. A dash for a worker so they can’t think for themselves but can think together. A boatload for a commander so they have some independence and creativity. And queens? Queens need to _bathe_ in the stuff. Imagine half an acre of leaves to feed one worker with honey, and then imagine that one queen needs a hundred times that much. They had a continent full of plants and pissed it all away on making queens instead of commanders, wiping out the Ophio in the process…”

The Doctor was staring down at the collar, practically seething with rage.

Rose’s eyes went wide.

“They’re like grey squirrels,” She said softly, and the Doctor stopped the next bout of his tirade to stare at her.

“What?”

“They’re like the grey squirrels. They’re invasive. Not supposed to be there. They crowd out all the native squirrels, eat all their food, and multiply like crazy. They’re not supposed to be here, and they’re causing chaos.” Her eyes were wide.

“Not squirrels. Kudzu. They’re kudzu.” Jack said, “Is that what you’re trying to say, Doc? They’re invasive?”

The Doctor nodded.

“They’re invasive. They’re expansionist. They’re destructive. And that’s…that’s part of why…”

He took a deep breath, looking Rose in the eyes.

“That’s why I’m going back.” He said flatly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one this week. I was going to combine this one with the next chapter but my beta advised me not to since it's pretty dense. And speaking of dense, I spent most of the day I was supposed to be editing this chapter epoxying and sanding something, so if this comes off as a little jank in places, it's 'cause yours truly is an idiot who procrastinated her procrastination while procrastinating. I'm so good at this shit, you guys. 
> 
> Anyway. Let me know your thoughts! I hope you enjoyed all these little reveals, I've been mulling over this shit for months and how the Polyergus's biology and circumstances have shaped the way they interact with their world and the species they parasitize.


	24. Formica dolosa II

“Are you…are you crazy?!” Rose spluttered, “you’re going BACK?!”

“Yeah, no, that’s- that’s not happening. We went through hell to get you out of that godforsaken hive, and we’re not letting you just walk back in there like a good little drone. I don’t give a fuck what kind of issues you have, Doc, you’re NOT going back in there while I’m alive. Not now and not ever.” Jack folded his arms and stared the Doctor dead in the eyes- a mere human staring down a Time Lord.

The Doctor nodded once or twice, looking down at the iron collar and snapping it closed.

“I don’t think you understand,” he said, “I’m not going back because I want to. I’m going back because I have to.”

“Have to?! You don’t have to do anything! You don’t owe them anything!” Rose was fully panicked by that point, moving close to the Doctor to grab him into a hug.

“Doctor, please. Don’t. Don’t do it. It doesn’t- you don’t need to go back and deal with them. They’re going to collapse on their own, right? They’re running out of food, they can’t really call in any ships- It’s all going to fall apart without you, without the TARDIS- you don’t need to-“

Rose was in tears by this point, and the Doctor’s face fell. He let go of the collar with one hand, reaching up to cradle the side of Rose’s face.

“Rose,” he said softly, swallowing his own lump of tears, “I can’t afford to wait around for that to happen.”

She froze. Just went completely rigid- her and Jack.

“What?” Jack said, “you’re going back, but- Oh. Oh no. NO. Doc, you are NOT going in there to pull some fucking dying-for-their-sins horseshit. That’s not fucking happening-“

“No,” the Doctor said calmly, “It’s not.”

Jack and Rose stared at him. He was calm. Too calm.

The Doctor snarled down at the collar, head snapping up so quickly it made Rose flinch.

**“They _used_ me.” **

His voice quavered a little, the faintest hint of fury glimmering in his eyes. He was straining to keep calm- there was a volcano of rage building below the surface, and it was about to erupt. Rose swallowed nervously, dropping his hand, taking a step back.

He stood up, then, towering over Rose on shaky legs as the wheelchair scooted away behind him. He was transfixed on the collar, his hatred palpable enough to burn a hole through it if only he’d wanted to. Rose swallowed.

“There are people in that hive that woke up a few days ago free. They woke up and went to work. They were just looking to make some money, you know? A simple thing, lots of people just want to make a little coin. They heard on the comms, someone offering a deal they couldn’t refuse. Algae for ore. You’d have to be a fool to pass that up…” The Doctor’s smile had vanished, and he stared down at the collar, every muscle in his shoulders tensing- and yet his voice staying frighteningly calm.

“They’ll go to bed tonight in a stinking pile of concrete as **slaves**. _And it’s all my fault._ So no, Jack, I’m not going in there to, as you say, “die for their sins.” I’m going back to free them.”

He was far, far, far too calm. His voice was flat and even, but there was a tension to his jaw, a gleam in his eyes-

Rose swallowed, taking a step back.

“Doc, they had you fucking _brainwashed._ There’s not a court in the goddamn universe that would throw the book at you for that one. _It’s not your fault._ You owe those people nothing. Cut your losses and let’s leave them to rot.” Jack snapped, folding his arms.

The Doctor twitched.

Rose swallowed and grabbed Jack’s arm.

“Jack,” she whispered, “Don’t.”

“Why not?! He’s going to chuck himself back into the meat grinder for the sake of a bunch of bastards who fell for the most obvious scam I’ve ever heard of in my entire life. You really think you’ll get away from the Polyergus a second time, Doctor? Because I ain’t sticking my fucking neck out for you a SECOND time, not ‘cause you decided to waltz in there and-“

**“Be quiet, Harkness.”**

The Doctor’s eyes fell on Jack with a ferocity that drove the former conman back a step. His voice was laden with such authority that Jack fell silent, swallowing nervously- as though every argument he could have made had just vanished from his head.

The Doctor was quaking with rage. The cords in his neck were prominent and there was a fury in his eyes that shook Rose to her core. She’d seen him angry. She’d seen him seething. This…this was something else.

“I don’t care what anyone’s laws say. I don’t care what you say. I don’t care. **They made me into a slaver.** And you have two options, Harkness. Help me, or stay the fuck out of my way. And if you say, _one more time,_ that those people deserved what I did to them in any way, shape, or form….” His voice trailed off, and he stared Jack in the eyes.

The threat hung in the air, and Jack swallowed, nodding frantically.

The Doctor didn’t need to finish his sentence. 

Rose took a step closer and grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers and just…holding him. The tension uncoiled from his shoulders, a little bit- just a smidgen. Just enough.

“What are you going to do?” Rose whispered, “Didn’t you say- it’d kill them? To free them?”

“I did. It won’t. Polyergus aren’t supposed to be able to take touch telepaths. We’re too different- our hiveminds are different, our MINDS are different. This-“

He stared down at the collar with an expression like he was two seconds from smashing it on the ground. The Doctor took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to be calm, forcing the tension in his shoulders to relax.

“These collars are wrong. Unnatural. This…this is an artificial perversion. And this hive…this hive’s gotten too big for its britches. They’re not taking another innocent mind from the wider universe. I’ll see to that.”

“So, what? We go back and firebomb the place?” Jack said, folding his arms.

The Doctor shook his head.

“They weren’t lying in the transmission, you know.” He mumbled, a look of guilt passing over his face, which vanished a second later.

“About what?” Rose asked nervously.

“It doesn’t matter.” The Doctor said with a sigh, a dark shadow drifting behind his gaze, “They’ve become something utterly monstrous. It doesn’t matter what their situation is.”

The Doctor took another deep breath.

“They took me, and they used me, and if they’d just let us go the first time, I’d be content to let them be. But they couldn’t, and they didn’t, and I’m not letting them sunder any more families and break any more people. I’m not leaving this one alone. **They had one chance.”**

“It’s not your fault.” Jack said quietly, and the Doctor’s eyes locked onto his.

“It’s not.” Jack said quietly. “I know you think it is, Doctor, but it’s not.”

“You don’t need to do this.” Rose agreed, squeezing his hand tightly, “Doctor, please. That wasn’t you. They made you do that. You didn’t DECIDE to hurt those people. You didn’t do that. They did. It’s the Polyergus’s fault. Please. You don’t need to- to-“

She took a deep breath, looking down at where their hands were joined and stepped into his personal space.

The last bits of the Doctor’s aggression burned away as she wrapped him up in a tight hug. He buried his face in her shoulder, arms wrapping tightly around her. Rose could feel the collar digging into her back, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter.

“You don’t need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders,” Rose whispered, “It’s not you that’s guilty. The Polyergus…they…they enslaved you. They made you do all that. You weren’t- you weren’t yourself, Doctor, _you weren’t there.”_

He chuckled into her shoulder.

“I was, Rose.” He rumbled. “I was. That’s why I have to go back. That was me, doing that. I was…I was…I was high. They made me…feel…happy. I thought I was doing the right thing, by-“

“That’s why you shouldn’t!” Rose pushed away from him, a hand still on his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. “You- they- it’s like- They drugged you. They drugged you against your will, and then they made you drive a car, and it’s not your fault if you crashed it! You didn’t decide to do any of that, it-“

She swallowed and pulled him back in for a hug.

“Please, Doctor. Please, don’t- Please don’t do this. If you go back to that hive, you might not ever come out again. I don’t want them taking you again. I can’t- _I can’t lose you again.”_ Rose’s eyes brimmed with tears as she looked up at him, visions of dead blue eyes and a flat monotone haunting her thoughts and making her cling even more tightly to him.

“It’s my choice.” He said softly, “It’s my choice. And I’m going back. And you can help me, or not. That’s your choice. I won’t force you.”

“We’re really not going to talk you out of this, are we?” Jack said with a sigh, “Fuck, Rose got all weepy and you’re still hell-bent on it…”

Rose, however, was not so easily swayed.

“Promise me you’ll be alright. Promise me I won’t lose you again.” She whispered, and the Doctor cradled the side of her face with his free hand.

“I can’t.” He said flatly, “I can’t promise you anything, Rose. There’s always a chance it goes wrong.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” She said fiercely, tears still tracking down her face, “I’m coming with you and I’m going to help you.”

“You don’t even know what the plan is.”

“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Rose sniffled, “If I let you run in there on a suicide mission, I really will lose you forever. You need help. And I’m not- I’m not letting them take you again. I’m assuming… _that…”_ Rose swallowed and gestured at the collar he was still clutching, “means…well, it’s pretty obvious what that means. And I’m not letting you play with fire all alone.”

The Doctor nodded and held her close. He ran a grateful hand through her hair, just for a moment enjoying her human-hot warmth and the tight cling of her arms around his torso.

Eventually, he looked up at Jack. Waiting expectantly for his answer.

The former conman sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Well, you two lovebirds are already all in on this plan we haven’t heard, so fuck it. Someone’s gotta be there to run defence and make sure you don’t get yourselves killed. Whatever the plan is, you’re fixing my blasters first, got it?”

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

“Alright, great. Fuck it. I’ve wanted to nail those bugs with some Raid since I met them. What’s the plan, Doctor?”

The Doctor straightened up, still holding onto Rose, and smiled. He pulled the coin out of his pocket and rubbed it with his thumb, looking Jack in the eye as he did.

“I’m glad you asked, Jack.” He said softly, “I’m very glad you asked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know. Turns out, Polyergus longicornus and Polyergus sanwaldi have the exact. Same. Fucking. Host. Species. And for both of them, F. dolosa is their _only_ host. These chapter names were a smashing idea until mother nature decided not to play ball. 
> 
> Anyway. A short chapter this week, and I'm sorry for that- I may combine this with that last chapter, but there was just so much going on that my beta advised I keep the chapter break and let the story breathe a little bit. But next week, things really pop off, and I hope you're all excited for that!


	25. Polyergus topoffi

The Doctor’s eyes snapped open, and he sat up with a gasp.

The TARDIS’s time rotor glowed above him, her hum strangely contented. Something cold and metallic was snapped around his neck- he reached up and grabbed at it, a wash of familiar memories flooding into his mind as he did so. The collar. He was wearing the iron collar. For some reason he couldn’t explain, that was a bit strange.

He swallowed, and his throat rubbed against an uncomfortable protrusion on the inside of the collar. Not very thick, but certainly not comfortable. What…?

That line of thinking was completely drowned out as a familiar buzz clouded his thoughts. His mental shields were down, all the way down- as if he’d just dropped them and forgot to put any of them up before he passed out.

He was completely defenceless against the incoming tidal wave.

The Hive let out a collective gasp, their voices rumbling across his mind and into the depths of his soul. He clutched at his head, relief pounding through his veins- what happened? The last thing he remembered was pinning Rose to the console, then she’d shot him with the blaster…and it had all gone black.

The Hive seethed angrily, and the Doctor clenched his teeth. Humans. Humans had taken him away. Humans had taken him away from them. They snarled that he’d been gone an hour, that they were afraid he’d never come back. The Doctor shook his head. Oh, no. No, he was coming back, and then he was never going to leave.

He started to breathe in time with the chanting in his mind.

There was something on the console that caught his eye, drew his interest and the interest of the hivemind. A golden metal box, with tabs to screw it into something and dangling wires with universal plugs. A box the size of a man’s hand. The Doctor picked it up and examined it, the golden swirls on top written in his language.

VORTEX BOOSTER.

A shiver went down his spine as he held the box. Memories unlocking of a time centuries ago where he’d made a device like this- something old, something when he’d worn a curious colourful coat. The whys and hows weren’t important. He had in his hands a vortex booster- and he remembered how to install it. And with that memory came another- tumbling down onto him like a box falling off a high shelf.

He turned his attention to the TARDIS console. Landing. He could find the last location and land there. Rose and Jack didn’t know how to land, only take off- and he must have taken off himself by accident. Or…something like that.

Confusion warred with the Hive’s demands to return to them. They were terrified- and the Doctor couldn’t blame them.

His eyes glazed over as he hammered in the sequence to rematerialize in their last known location. According to the main screen, they were floating just inside the heliopause of the Cordycepa system- which was good, that meant he could move the TARDIS without involving the vortex, something he couldn’t remember how to do. That would have prompted further pondering, but the shrieking of the Hive drowned out any chance he had for critical thought, and the Doctor responded instinctually. He grabbed the hammer and raised it above his head to give the Locational Anomalizer a good thwack-

A low groan from the floor interrupted his thoughtless action, and the Doctor spun around on his heels, eyes locking on the source of the noise.

Jack sat up with a groan. He was lying on the console room floor just past the coral columns, clutching his head and looking dazed. Beside him was Rose, herself starting to blink back to life.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. His own relief that his companions were alive and alright was completely overshadowed by the Hive’s rage and hunger. Food. Humans were food. He needed to bring them back to the hive. He needed to feed them to the grubs.

“Doctor?” Rose said with a groan, blinking her doe-soft eyes at him. And for a moment, that pulled on his heartstrings- a moment that the Polyergus washed away in a flood of their chanted desperation.

He snarled at her, the Hive’s hunger pounding through his skull, through his veins, and he turned back to the console and smashed the Locational Anomalizer with all his might. A quick yank on the lever to pitch them ass-over-teakettle out of their current spatial coordinates, and the TARDIS was wheezing and groaning towards her target. The Doctor danced around to another of the console’s panels, yanking a lever to pitch their internal gravity over to a less stable state. Rose shrieked, Jack grunted, and he grinned nastily. Teach them to take him away from his family. Food. They were food. They were nothing more than food…

A few judders, a few rocks, and they slammed into a landing with a thud that had the TARDIS groaning almost as loud as his passengers. Her groaning turned to an indignant shriek when the Doctor marched up to his two human companions, looming over them like a monster from their nightmares.

Rose blinked up at him, opening her mouth to try and say something, only for the Doctor to grab her by the front of her shirt and sling her over his shoulder like a rolled-up carpet. Jack he hauled roughly to his feet by the front of his shirt, shoving him towards the door with a snarl.

“Walk,” the hive barked in unison through him, their cold fury becoming his own. As he spoke, his throat vibrated against the strange protrusion, chafing uncomfortably- not quite painfully, but the squeeze and the buzz was not nice in the slightest. Probably best if he didn’t talk…not that he’d need to, shortly. Humans were deaf to the proper way of speaking, after all, and without these two stupid apes, he wouldn’t need to talk anymore.

Jack put his hands up and took the few steps towards the door, head bowed and posture meek, and that wasn’t quite right- there was something about that-

Rose wasn’t saying anything, either- she was slung over his shoulder like so much rubbish, and she wasn’t yelling or flailing, just staying still and quiet like a good little girl, and that wasn’t…that wasn’t right…

Why wasn’t she-

A wall of chanting nailed into his thoughts, the repetitive drumbeat of _food, food, food_ echoing through the Doctor’s skull and wiping away his misgivings. He didn’t need to ask how or why. They were food and soon they would be feeding the grubs, and it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter at all.

A soft voice trembled underneath the chanting, a gentle call for help- a call that went largely unheeded by the hive itself, too preoccupied with the return of their Commander and the capture of their human livestock. Later, the hive purred, and the soft voice went quiet.

The Doctor flung the doors open and pushed Jack outside roughly, watching as the human stumbled and fell to his hands and knees onto the dirt floor. He stepped out after a second later, putting Rose on the ground without a hint of delicacy. She grunted at the sudden impact, sitting up and scrambling into a standing position- a move that Jack was hastily following.

They were back in the Queen’s chamber, surrounded by his siblings, both adoptive and born. The adopted ones scrambled around, attending the queen. The chamber was abuzz with relief and emotion and activity, as the Queen stared down at him and his two captives.

Rose reached into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around something. Just holding it, not pulling it out. She pressed a button, and something buzzed softly.

On the Doctor’s collar, something inaudibly clicked.

Her majesty reached down into his mind, her gentle touch sweeping through his thoughts to see what had changed, if anything. There were strange holes here and there- mostly about where he’d been in the few hours he’d been missing from their home. He’d suddenly appeared at the edge of the heliosphere, they said, but they couldn’t communicate with those who weren’t conscious. They’d prodded him awake- and the Doctor had no explanation for how he’d managed to escape.

The last thing he remembered was being shot in the chest by Rose.

The Queen wasn’t entirely satisfied with that, but the Doctor didn’t really have any additional answers, so there wasn’t much she could do.

The hive’s attention turned towards the two humans, and the roiling mass of Polyergus hummed at their adopted children to take care of their newest meal. Two humans weren’t enough meat for the warriors, but they would make a fine repast for the little ones. Four of his adopted siblings fell out of their positions in the crowd and marched towards their prey.

Underneath all the chanting and humming, once again, the soft voice called out for a bit of help. And again, it was ignored- later, later, they’d attend to it later. It fell silent, a note of resentment echoing away from it.

The Doctor turned away from Rose and Jack, his empty gaze locked on the transmitter tower that stood before the queen. His hearts beat warmly as his family hummed in his mind- they were glad to have him back. So, so glad. And since he kept having all these troublesome thoughts, they poured their love into his mind, drowning any hope of fighting back under an ocean of warmth, like cuddling up to Rose…

He shook his head. Rose was human. Humans were food. He couldn’t love food. Food was like plants- food was deaf and could not hear the Hive, so food was unfit to love. His two male humans were food, and his love for them was merely foolishness. Yes.

The mere act of shaking his head, though, dragged that whatever-it-was across his neck, and the hive mentally stroked him, helping him with his discomfort. There wasn’t really any way for him to take it off, ever- but they’d help with the pain and irritation. With a few hums and chants from the hive, the thing scraping against his throat was the farthest thing from his mind, and the Doctor was back to his task.

The Doctor marched towards the tower with a broad smile on his face, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the Vortex booster, turning it over in his hands. Golden case, wiring and chips- an older model, to be sure, but more than enough to boost their effective range across all of time and space.

But not inside a TARDIS in flight. No hivemind could reach a TARDIS in the Vortex, except the Time-

The Hive stroked his mind, soothing away that troublesome thought. He’d been through so much pain, and they’d worked so hard to pack it all away. Then his meddlesome pet humans had come and derailed all their hard work. But it was alright, now. The meddlesome humans would be no more, and he would hear their voice from one end of the universe to the other.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and unlocked a panel on the side of the tower with it, eyes glazed and vacant, a soft smile plastered on his face. The transmitter’s electrics winked up at him, glowing Vespiform wiring and luminescent beads of solder lighting up the transmitter’s insides. The hive sang their assent, their lust to commune beyond the edges of their system, to the edges of time and space, ringing through his mind clear as a bell.

The Doctor’s collar clicked inaudibly again.

Some fragment of his Time Lord teachings rose up and spat at the hive, snarling that they were unworthy, that this was wrong- but they smacked it down like a disobedient dog.

He ran his fingers over the wiring, eyes darting back and forth over the primitive circuitry, quickly locking onto the correct part of the device to install his booster. He held it up into the right place and fused the edge of the box to a support strut where he wanted it to go, grabbing two of the wires and soldering them into the correct spot on the board.

The hive hummed their appreciation a bit more quietly.

Every wire had to be placed exactly, and he had to calibrate the resonance of the box with the systems perfectly. That took time, minutes ticking past as he fiddled with the system- and there were some additional wires that were left hanging out when he was finished.

And with each additional minute, his collar clicked once again.

One of the wires had been wrapped in stripy red-white tape in a strange X pattern, and it tickled something deep in his mind- a memory of what this device could be programmed to do, if the additional wires were present. A smile spread across his face as the Hive hummed in interest. A calibration stage, which would automatically calculate the signal strength each collar user could tolerate on the fly- something extremely handy for many species with many different telepathic thresholds. No more pain like stabbing nails when a new friend was made into family, just love and affection. The agony he’d suffered on his induction would never happen again. The Hive purred happily at that thought. He promptly started to solder the wires into place, the Hive’s blessings purring through his mind. 

His collar clicked again.

A flash of clarity resounded through the Doctor’s mind as he programmed the box with a few bursts from his sonic- this bit of technology could be manipulated with resonance coding, using different frequencies to set the device’s parameters. He could have done it by whistling, but the sonic was faster…

And strangely, that off-topic thought wasn’t immediately swamped by the hive.

The Doctor stepped back to admire his handiwork. His golden box didn’t match the cool blacks and blues of the transmitter tower’s insides- it squatted on the darkened construction like a gleaming golden tick embedded in its flesh. Still, it was working perfectly well- he twiddled his sonic to the setting for activating simple devices and gave it a buzz, listening for the beep.

The tang of artron laced the air and filled his nostrils, his time sense twinging with the new fluctuation in spacetime before him. The booster was working- and perturbing Time as it did so. A shudder of satisfaction ran down the Doctor’s spine- an emotion that was his alone.

The Hive’s congratulations weren’t half as deafening as he’d expected.

He slammed the access door shut, turning back towards the Queen. Her Majesty.

Behind him, something inside the tower clicked.

* * *

Four slaves surrounded them as they marched up the main tunnel, two of them armed to stop their troublesome prey from fleeing. Two of them weren’t, leading in the front and the back. They’d been marching for at least five minutes, probably more. The hive never failed to amaze with its labrynthine size and layout.

That wasn’t what was on Rose’s mind, though.

Rose had to fight hard to stop from smiling. Straight face. Give nothing away. Not a grin, not a smirk, not a giggle, nothing. Both her hands were in her hoodie pockets, keeping them concealed from their captors. They couldn’t afford to see.

They walked past another side tunnel. Rose extended another finger. Three. She turned her head to Jack and winked.

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a small fistful of something.

“What is that?” the slave behind them croaked sharply, and the corner of Rose’s mouth twitched up in a smirk that took her a second to smother.

“Human thing,” Jack said smoothly, “Just little bits of foam. They go in our ears- they’re a bit pressure-sensitive.” He held up the four little earplugs so the slave behind them could see, before handing two to Rose, which she took with her free hand and quickly screwed one into one of her ears.

“The Commander…is unsure of this. Are you certain that it is necessary?” the slave said dubiously, and Jack looked over his shoulder with his best winning smile. One plug was in, and the other he’d just rolled up and was preparing to insert.

“Oh, yeah. We can bear it, but it’s just a lot nicer to do it this way. The Doc’s not human- what would he know about our anatomy?”

“This is…unusual. Are you certain that this is required…?”

“Returning to the part where you’re about to cut my head off? A little respect for the condemned, here! Let us have a little bit of creature comfort!” Jack spat, a look of genuine affront crossing his face. The slave looked at the floor and huffed- apparently, that was good enough for them.

Rose screwed in her second plug, biting the inside of her cheek to stop from grinning as the foam expanded with a faint crinkle. She reached back into her pockets, fingertips brushing against their cylindrical metal contents.

She could see the fourth tunnel up ahead, to her right.

Rose held up four fingers to Jack, who nodded in reply.

The slave behind them opened their mouth to question the strange human gesture, but they never got the chance.

Rose grabbed the sonic screwdrivers she’d been concealing in each pocket, a feral grin on her face. One of them was a slim, minimalist metal tube like a laser pointer, and the other was a strange shaft with a red circle at the top- and they’d been covered in dust when she’d picked them out of the cup. 

“How’s this for a blast from the past?!” Rose quipped, flicking both sonics on- and stabbing them together points-first.

The screech they made rattled the teeth in her skull and would have done her ears permanent damage were it not for the plugs. As it was, Rose’s eyes were still watering from the intense shrieking of sonic on sonic- a sound like a traincar scraping against a plate the size of a city block. It was a dial-up modem from hell, the dying screams of a sound engineer shot over his mixing table.

And it was more than enough to drive every slave within fifty meters to their knees as the awful, keening noise bounced off every wall and echoed up and down the hive.

Jack’s hand planted itself on her shoulder and she broke the two sonics apart, splitting off and running down the side tunnel as fast as her legs could carry her.

They streaked past slaves of all shapes and sizes, many making lunges that Rose nimbly sidestepped. Jack pulled out his blasters partway between strides, already akimbo when his feet next hit the ground. The slaves in the hallway were a lot more sparse than usual, but Rose wasn’t going to question it.

They stormed into the first big chamber, and her eyes fell on the largest thing in the room.

The nursery chamber was full of wiggling pupae and the odd overtaxed slave, lit by warm orange lighting from above. All around was the smell of dirty crickets and construction dust, but in the middle of the room towered the steel tank. About seven feet tall and six feet across, the giant metal vessel dominated the room- but luckily, no slaves were next to it.

Close up and with a chance to look properly, Rose could see the rust spots and the places where green psychic honey had slopped over the side and dried in place, trails of it pulled down the sides to the floor like raindrops on a window. There was a crude welded staircase of five or so steps to a platform level with the tank’s rim, somewhere that workers could attend to the creature currently thrashing around inside it.

A faint skittering hiss resounded through the air, and there was a mighty splash of green gunk as it displaced some of the ooze.

“That’s it?!” Jack yelled, and Rose nodded.

“That’s it!” She replied, eyes locked on the stairs up to the top-

Just as Rose was about to sprint up the stairs, there was a shout behind her. A whole demonic choir of alien voices monotonically droned “STOP.”

She spun around, eyes widening in terror. Jack scowled and raised his blasters. 

This wasn’t part of the plan.

Dozens of slaves armed with all manner of stun weapons surged into the chamber, all locked on the two runaway humans. Rose scowled and pulled out her two sonics, getting ready to, to- to do something, but what would that accomplish, the sound burst couldn’t beat them all back-

“ROSE!” Jack bellowed, his voice heavily muffled by the earplugs, “STAND BACK!”

He pulled out his sonic blaster, took a few steps back, and aimed at the steel tank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go...
> 
> Not a lot to say this week. Mostly just that we're rapidly approaching the end, and I mean it this time.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! All the comments thus far have been wonderful, and I do read and enjoy all of them- I'm sorry I'm such crap at replying to them in a timely manner, I'm usually on my phone when I get the notifs and it's hard to write on that thing.


	26. Formica gnava

The Tower clicked.

The Doctor’s collar clicked.

And nobody noticed either.

He stood in the queen’s chamber, waiting. As they wanted. Their new ship in orbit was still being prepared to carry many of the family to new places, new planets; they were still trying to empty it of the stores of algae and food. It was a slow process on a vessel with only one lander and one transmat pad; still, the work was proceeding.

For the moment, he wasn’t needed. They didn’t need another ship yet. He wasn’t needed for labour yet.

He could rest.

The Doctor luxuriated in the feeling of connection to other minds, the warmth of the hivemind surrounding him like a thick blanket. He’d started to subconsciously hum along to the melody- willingly joining in, even if he wished he could sing more freely.

The collar clicked again.

He swallowed- and the uncomfortable pressure around his throat was back. Just slightly, the strange protrusion back to bothering him. He could ignore it, but it was…odd.

What _was_ that thing?

He stopped humming along to the chanting, reaching up to the collar, trying to touch the thing rubbing against his Adam’s apple constantly. Maybe there was some way he could remove it without taking the neural relay off-

The hive’s reproach for his fiddling was strangely tepid and distant, almost…muffled. But it was there nonetheless, smacking him down from his explorations and dragging him back into line.

The Doctor huffed. He wanted to lose himself in the thoughts of others again, sure, but this thing on his neck was driving him absolutely mad. He just needed to figure out what it was…

The angry chittering at him was muffled and distant, easily ignored while he reached up for his neck again. It would have been more than enough to figure out what exactly was pinned against his throat- had the entire hivemind not been rocked by a wail of agony.

The two humans had done…something. A wave of pain burst out from every family member near the humans in the main tunnel, and a few of the Polyergus milling about too- pain of the ears and air bladders and any other soft tissue or hearing organs that they possessed. The shrieking injury of a sonic blast, from two sonic devices forced to activate while touching.

It tore across the collective like a gust of wind through a wheat field, the impact lessened by the numbers bearing it. A tide of rage welled up in its wake as the humans fled- how dare they?! HOW DARE THEY ATTACK THE HIVE?!

His siblings were roused, not the Queen’s children, but the ones like him; they had to defend the nest, they had to kill the humans, they had to, they had to…

The Doctor’s collar clicked.

As the tidal wave of rage rolled towards him, the Doctor braced himself to be swept away by it, dragged down into the depths and sent up in pursuit of the two wayward humans, bracing himself for impact…

And when it hit him, it broke over his shoulders and left him holding fast where he stood.

His eyes snapped open in confusion. What was happening? He didn’t feel angry. In fact, he felt…

He felt…

Fuzzy?

As his siblings fell out of line all around him, the Doctor reached up and clutched at his head. Something was pounding behind his temple. Something was wrong.

The iron collar clicked.

* * *

Jack flicked his sonic blaster on and pulled the trigger, pressing it down as the glowing blue square grew and grew and grew against the side of the tank. The steel vanished into the air as he burned through an entire power cell charge, squaring up a hole that was twice the width of a standard human door.

The greenish gunk that had been loosely held in place during the squaring process sloshed out in a great, slow-moving wave, Rose and Jack barely having a second’s notice to jump out of the way as the tank drained all over the floor of the nursery. Many of the slaves at the front of the attacking army panicked and dropped their weapons, frantically scrambling for the pile of grubs sitting in the path of the green gunk- carrying cocooned pupae out of harm’s way and dumping them somewhere else, somewhere safer.

Many. Not all.

As the last of the green sludge drained away, Rose peered in the great steel hole that Jack had hewn to see a titanic mass of shimmering chiton covered in sticky psychic honey. It was kind of tangled and hard to understand where one part ended and the other began, but it was there- just like the Doctor had promised.

Jack held up his sonic blaster and pointed it at the twitching, sticky creature in the tank, scowl tight on his face.

“ALRIGHT,” he roared, “HERE’S THE DEAL. YOU BACK OFF AND I DON’T PULL THE TRIGGER. YOU WANT HER TO STAY THE SHAPE SHE’S IN AND NOT GET COMPACTED INTO A CUBE, YOU PUT THE WEAPONS DOWN AND BACK AWAY SLOWLY. UNDERSTOOD?!”

The wall of slaves stared at him.

“I’M DEAD SERIOUS. YOU EVEN _TWITCH_ IN A WAY I DON’T LIKE, SHE GETS IT. YOU GOT THAT?!”

The gathered crowd of aliens- most of which, Rose noted dimly, were wearing collars- all slowly bent down and placed their weapons on the floor, backing away slowly from the madman with the gun.

“Good. Very good. Now fuck off and we’ll leave her alive. Got it?!” Jack roared, watching in satisfaction as the slaves scattered down the tunnel, probably to grab reinforcements.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he muttered, pulling out one of his earplugs. Rose did the same, tucking it into her pocket to keep it close by if she needed it.

“You can say that again. How the hell are we gonna get her to follow us?”

“Doc didn’t say, just that…she’d come when called, or something like that…” Jack muttered, staring into the hole.

During all the commotion, the creature in the tank had gathered her bearings and shaken off some of the slime. She struggled to get her feet underneath herself, and Rose and Jack watched in amazement.

She was still pale white in places, her exoskeleton still soft and unready. She tilted her head, her four eyes staring at the two humans outside her metal home- a snatch of a strange world beyond.

She rose up like a cobra, looming down at them from almost her full height- nine feet tall, lording over the humans like small tree instead of a living creature.

Her thorax had centipede-like segments, still dripping in greenish slime, just the same as her mother. Unlike the older queen with her many useless broken legs, however, the younger queen’s segments had all their limbs- and every single one was topped with a fully functional hand. Her fingers wiggled experimentally- two on each hand, like she wasn’t sure what to do with all of them.

She stood shakily on the eight legs protruding from near her gaster, wobbling like they’d never held up any weight before- which, to be fair, they hadn’t. They were much thicker and stronger than the legs of the workers they’d seen- presumably to heft her gigantic body and the eggmaking apparatus she carried in her rear section.

She extended her wings, all six of them- still dripping in green psychic honey, they were soft and curled, like she wasn’t fully dried out yet. Even so, they gave the impression of a cape flowing down her back- diminishing in size as they went down.

The nape of her neck was a raised ruff like her mother’s, but this one lacked the strange tendrils- merely a selection of nubs that looked wickedly sharp. That wasn’t the only thing that was sharp- her mandibles gleamed like a pair of scythes, strong and menacing- it looked like she could easily pierce through Rose’s torso with them if she so desired.

It was fortunate, then, that she didn’t desire that at all.

She tilted her head at them, and her mighty antennae twitched. The newborn queen just…stared at them.

“Come with us,” Rose said slowly, stepping into the tank and towards the Polyergus princess. Her shoe squelched in some of the residual psychic honey, and Rose couldn’t help wrinkling her nose- this tank reeked of cricket shit and day-old lawn clippings.

The princess just stared at her, her great antennae flicking a little, and Rose sighed. She reached out and grabbed one of the young queen’s many hands. Strangely, it was a comfortable fit in Rose’s grasp- hilariously undersized, and yet with wickedly sharp claws.

The Queen stared for a moment longer, four eyes locked where human hand met alien, and there was a _pssst_ from her abdomen. A strange, rank smell filled the air, and Rose wrinkled her nose. The newborn queen was releasing a pacifying pheromone, her instinctual defense- and it wasn’t really working. It just smelled really, really foul. 

“None of that, now. We’re not your new hosts. Humans are dangerous, alright? After this, you stay away from humans, you got that? Now come with us!” Rose said, giving her arm a tug.

The young Queen chittered, taking a few unsteady steps on her newly-solid legs. It took her a few moments to get into her stride, and she stared at Rose and Jack mutely, following them obediently as they dragged her down the tunnel.

* * *

The collar clicked.

The tower clicked.

And the Doctor stared into space.

His head felt…foggy. Strange…

There was yelling all around him, but it was weirdly muffled. People shoved by him, and he blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings, trying to understand what was happening.

He craned his neck up, eyes locking on the Queen’s face. Her head. Blinky lights screwed into the top of her head.

Voices drifted to him, faint, distant, muffled. A…hallway? A tunnel, a hallway, a princess…

Oh. Okay. Um.

 _Commander, what are your orders?_ Droned up at him from down a distant drainpipe, warped and muffled and confusing.

Orders? He was the Doctor, he didn’t do…Orders?

“I don’t…” he mumbled, aloud and in his head.

The Queen’s antennae twitched, her anger lapping against his mind. Images of him getting his collar fixed floated to him, but it was irritating his throat, so why would he want to fix it? He really wanted to take it off…

The Queen hissed down at him.

_You are rebellious. You are defiant. You will obey us. We should never have let you keep a shred of your own-self, you’ve brought NOTHING BUT TROUBLE._ **NOW DO AS YOU’RE TOLD, TIME LORD.**

The queen lunged at him telepathically, a blow with a clenched fist intended to slam into him as hard as she possibly could. A psychic punch so powerful it would bring the Doctor to his knees and his rebellious thoughts to heel, leave him screaming in pain and clutching his head as his nerve endings burned with the fire of her righteous anger.

The hit landed square, as it always did…and the Doctor winced. Didn’t fall to his knees, didn’t scream, didn’t cry out- just wobbled a little and winced. It felt like a stiff breeze hitting his side, a flick of a finger to his ear. A momentary shock, and nothing more.

The queen screeched in terror and confusion, and that rather muddied his thoughts. What was he…?

Tactics? Tactics, right….um…

Block. Block the tunnel. Both sides? Above and below the intersection. Stand back so they can’t see, be quiet…um…

An obedient roar prickled at his thoughts, sounding like a stadium full of sports fans from a block away. Distant enough to be of interest but not nearly enough to deafen.

The collar clicked.

The tower clicked.

And Her Majesty screamed.

A strange wave of confusion rippled across the hivemind, and the Doctor wasn’t really in a fit state to process it. Something was happening far beyond him, but his head was just so foggy…

 _SIEZE HER! A NEW NEURAL RELAY, WE NEED A NEW RELAY! BROODLESS FILTH, WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?!_ The queen roared in his mind.

He stared up at her dopily, blinking a few times.

The Doctor looked down and watched several Polyergus stalk up to him, their stingers extended, their mandibles clacking.

Oh. That…

Uh…

He swallowed.

And that damn collar scraped against his throat.

He really needed to do something about that…

The tower clicked.

And the Doctor’s collar didn’t.

* * *

Trying to run while clutching the hand of a nine-foot ball and chain was, Rose discovered, exceedingly difficult.

The princess was content to trot along down the hallway at a brisk walk for a human, taking her sweet _fucking_ time in a moment when they needed to cover a lot of ground in a real hurry. Which wasn’t doing anything good for Rose’s blood pressure, as they half-trotted down the worryingly empty tunnel with their cargo in tow. 

On the other hand, Rose wasn’t sure if the princess could even run at all- her mother couldn’t even move, let alone walk anywhere, so this was probably the best they were going to get. She was hunched forward, her body long like a snake, and her hands scrabbled across the floor like feet that weren’t very good at their jobs. She couldn’t fit down the passage reared up- it was only a modest seven feet tall, nowhere near enough for the princess and doubtlessly claustrophobic.

Jack glanced at his glow-in-the-dark wristwatch and nodded to himself.

“Assuming the Doc stuck to the script, we’re right on time. Any minute now, it’ll happen.”

“Hope he hurries,” Rose mumbled, “Because I don’t think they’re going to let us get away that easy…”

They really didn’t have much time- Rose could feel it, pressing down on her, the tension, the knowledge that lurking beyond the tunnel was a massing army that was going to overpower them in a heartbeat. They were already wildly off-script with Jack’s little blaster stunt- the only thing that had gone right so far was the princess…

Rose swallowed. “You think we’re gonna make it?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jack said, not looking her way, “Easy peasy. This plan’s just bulletproof, Rosie. You know that.”

Rose could just _taste_ the sarcasm.

They rounded a corner and her vision was filled with light. The entrance back to the main tunnel was less than a dozen steps away, and it looked reasonably clear. Maybe they were going to make it after all. Maybe-

Rose gave the princess’s hand a firm yank, excitement hammering in her veins, and they surged forward, into the tunnel-

“Oh, FUCK!” Jack yelled.

They were in the middle of the main tunnel, crude halogen lamps glowing down above them. Up above them, just out of the tunnel’s line of sight, was a wall of slaves clutching stun weapons of all kinds. And on the other side, trapping them in, a similar wall of slaves.

Dead eyes. Weapons up. No mercy.

The infant queen whimpered.

“You will release the princess.” The slaves all droned as one, and Rose swallowed, turning to look at Jack.

She reached into her pockets, and one of the nearby slaves fired a shot into the floor by Rose’s feet. She yelped and clung onto the princess’s hand even tighter, terror thundering through her veins.

“YOU WILL RELEASE THE PRINCESS.” They roared again, and Rose shuddered.

“Oh, fuck.” She muttered, and Jack nodded his agreement. 

* * *

It wasn’t a sudden change, really. One minute, he was listening to the muted humming of the hivemind- almost at a level that was normal for a Time Lord, like his people weren’t all dead- and the next…he just…wasn’t. Every second that ticked by was like turning down the dial on a speaker that had been cranked well past 11, the sheer volume of their collective voices drowned out as the seconds ticked by.

The Doctor swallowed.

And the thing in the front of his collar scraped against his throat again.

He turned his head, clutching at his forehead. The thing rubbed against his throat, its scratchy sides pinching painfully on the thin skin of his neck.

He breathed in.

It rasped up his neck.

He breathed out.

It rasped down his neck.

The Doctor could hear muffled voices all around him, shouting and screaming and something, something…

And all he could focus on was the thing pressed against his neck, rubbing his skin halfway raw. He reached up, pressed the button-

The pressure released and he sucked in a mighty gasp of air, fogged thoughts clearing. The relief was short-lived- there was an immediate impact like he’d just been punched in the side of the skull, a dull pounding as his telepathic centers disconnected- but nowhere near the agony he’d felt when he’d just been ripped away by Rose and Jack. He tumbled to his knees, loosely clutching the collar in his free hand- the world was swimming around him, warping pictures of the dirt under his hands resolving into one with every blink of his sharpening vision.

His eyes were crystal clear.

The Doctor struggled to his feet again, sucking in gasp after gasp of air, trying to make his unhappy lungs breathe in a more natural pattern. The Hive’s screaming and the Queen’s thoughts were no longer pestering him, and he could start to think a bit more freely, think…think for himself?

He could think. His head was pounding, but he could bear it. He swayed a little, off-balance, off-kilter, but standing, defiant, himself.

_But what the hell was scraping against his neck…?_

The Doctor looked down at the collar.

His eyes went wide when they fell on the answer.

Welded to the inside of the collar by a single metal bead, right where it had been pressed against his throat, was a British one-pound coin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing much to say today, so I'll keep it short. You may have noticed that we now have an estimate of story length- that's quite likely to change, but we shall see. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! I'm enjoying everyone's theories and feedback thus far, and hopefully with this chapter you'll all have a much clearer picture of where we're heading.


	27. Polyergus vinosus

Rose pulled out the two sonics, dropping the princess’ hand as she stared down the two walls of angry slaves. Dozens of them were collared, all of them were armed, and they didn’t have a prayer of fending them all off. Not all at once.

“Jack? Plan?” Rose hissed, and Jack shrugged a little helplessly. He was still holding up his blaster, keeping it pressed against the virgin queen’s chitinous chest, and scanning over the throng snarling at them. He shook his head- and Rose swallowed. That wasn’t good at all.

Some of the slaves started to stagger, then. They wobbled on their feet, blinking in confusion. They lowered their weapons, blankly stared at their human adversaries, and just generally looked like things weren’t adding up in their heads.

Rose bit her lip. Was it working? 

“How about you back off?” Jack said, slowly- he was watching their change in demeanour very carefully, one blaster still levelled at the queen. Rose decided to step in front of him, to shield him in case any of them started firing. Something that Jack muttered a quiet “thanks, Rosie” for- clearly, this was going to strengthen his plan to bullshit them out of this situation.

Which was good, because the gun Jack was threatening her with was out of juice after squaring a hole that big.

“We…uh…” one of the closer slaves looked practically cross-eyed in their delirium, an orange-skinned Vex staring at them with unseeing green eyes. Their clothes were clean and neat and not tattered like some of the others- this one was a recent arrival.

One of the slaves sank to their knees, hands reaching up to clutch at their head- and they weren’t alone. Another one sank to the floor a minute later-

When the slaves spoke, it was a disorganized mess, like a drunken choir out of time with the conductor. There was a significant delay between all the collared slaves, each one speaking in a slightly different instant- 

“We- the queen- You will…” they mumbled, and the confusion stretched to the uncollared slaves as well, blinking and staring and baffled beyond words. 

Jack nodded at Rose. Soon, he mouthed, and Rose nodded back.

She grabbed the princess’s hand and got ready to run.

* * *

The coin shimmered up at him from where it was welded into the collar’s interior, and the Doctor’s eyes went wide.

The neural relay tumbled out of his fingertips, hitting the floor with a clank as the sight of the gleaming brass and nickel filled his vision. Deep inside his mind, the image turned a key- and a lock holding back a tsunami of memories snapped open.

Instantly he was swamped by more memories than he could count, His entire life surging to the fore. First came the recent stuff he’d squirreled away- every second of plotting aboard the TARDIS, the endless conversations about the plan, modifying the collar, repairing Jack’s blasters- the entire plan surged into his mind, whole and complete. But before he could act on it, the next waves rolled in, pounding against his shores and stealing his focus.

Regeneration. Jamie. Flying the TARDIS. Sarah Jane Smith. Gallifrey. Peri. Time travel, cricket coats, working for UNIT, human anatomy, The Master, C’rizz, Davros, Nyssa, Cybermen, Ian and Barbara, The Slitheen, The Brig, Autons, Charley, his ship, his ship, his precious, precious ship-

His entire life swept from behind the walls he’d boxed it in, washing around his ankles- but unlike the hivemind of the Polyergus, not sweeping him away. From the churning sea of memories, his most recent ones rose like a lighthouse in the storm- and the Doctor stood up ramrod straight.

The plan. The plan. Rose and Jack- right, yes, the last snatches from the Polyergus, and he’d ordered them to pin his precious girl and his friend in a hallway-

That couldn’t be allowed to stand. Time to improvise.

He reached into his coat and pulled out his sonic, turning to look at the queen.

She was chittering and spitting and thrashing, errant screeching like a rusty bolt in a wheel, completely powerless to do anything to stop him. Any other giant monster worth its salt would have already torn him apart.

A clattering of mandibles cleared the last of his brain fog and sharpened his focus on something that wasn’t his pounding headache. Three Polyergus were marching towards him, mandibles clacking, hands up- all unarmed, so he had a few seconds to play with.

And a few seconds was all he needed.

The Doctor scowled, craning his neck up to look at the queen.

He extended his sonic towards the transmitter tower.

 **“You used me.”** he hissed, and pressed the button.

A signal travelled to the two blocks of plastic explosive he’d shaped into triangles, tucked away inside the case. Both the blasting caps detonated their charges in a fraction of a second.

There was no giant fireball, no mushroom cloud, no rattling of windowpanes as the flash blinded all who looked on it. The explosion was businesslike, a poof of brown dirt and white light as metal was shredded into a billion pieces, the tower so thoroughly torn apart that it would never, EVER be put back together. The debris flew in all directions, the Doctor covering his face to protect his eyes as the tower shattered with an earsplitting crack.

The Oncoming Storm’s vengeful thunder had struck.

* * *

Rose knew the Doctor had been successful the instant it happened.

Every single slave on either side of them all staggered at once, collared or not; a scream tore out of them all, a muffled cry of pain from the touch-telepaths and a wail of absolute agony from the rest. Any nearby Polyergus started to twitch and convulse, a hideous keening shriek tearing out of their mandibles as they thrashed and howled.

All except for the virgin queen, who stood tall and firm, her antennae twitching a little as she took in the scene around her. Her grasp on Rose’s hand tightened, but otherwise she didn’t show any signs of being affected.

Guns clattered to the ground with ugly clanks and thunks, and Jack wasn’t about to waste another second of time. He grabbed another of the princess’s hands and yanked her and Rose forward- down the tunnel, towards the Queen’s chamber.

“C’MON!” he yelled, “LET’S GO!”

“You- I-“ A nearby alien with a collar clamped around their throat croaked at Rose, and she looked him dead in the eyes. He was staggering to his feet, clearly not as mentally destroyed as the Doctor had been- there was a gleam of life in those red eyes, like he was coming back to himself.

Rose smiled at him, doing her best to comfort with just a look- right, the plan, the plan, she needed to tell him-

“Get to the transmat pad. All of you- get everyone to the transmat pad and get aboard that ship.” she said. Rose didn’t wait for any acknowledgement of her words- she just took off after Jack and the princess.

They didn’t have much time.

* * *

The queen and every other alien in the royal chamber screamed at the top of their lungs. The Polyergus howled in desperation, and the Doctor clapped his hands over his ears, cringing in pain. It was a wall of sound, like the deathrattle of his own people.

Dozens of slaves, some right next to the queen, fell to their knees with groans and moans and whimpers- and the Polyergus warriors weren’t going to take that lying down.

To the Doctor’s dismay, the thrashing warriors snatched up the nearest slaves to themselves, collared or not, it didn’t matter. Clusters of slaves were hemmed against the walls by the shrieking insects, howling in fury and pain and terror.

This was quite likely to turn out terribly if he didn’t think fast.

The four Polyergus that had been approaching him surged forwards, and the Doctor stepped out of the way- in their frenzied state, two of them slammed into each other, and the other two were staggering around trying to get their bearings.

“YOU!” the room screamed at him, “YOU STOLE OUR FAMILY FROM US! GIVE THEM BACK! GIVE THEM ALL BACK!”

“DOCTOR!” Rose shouted from up near the top of the room, and his hearts leapt when he saw his precious girl stagger into the room- dragging the virgin queen right behind her.

In the same room as her mother, the size disparity was stark- the virgin queen was microscopically small next to her building-sized mother, even if she dwarfed Rose and Jack as they tugged her down the stairs and through the thrashing, screaming mess.

Two more of her children fell out of line, surging towards their erstwhile commander, and these looked a little bit more together in the head. The Doctor swallowed- this wasn’t part of the plan, and if he got captured now-

He tried to dodge the attack, but the Polyergus were enraged and seething and he still counted as a disobedient slave. A clawed hand grabbed the back of his jacket, reeling him into the four-armed embrace of one of the warriors-

“OI! _HANDS OFF THE TIME LORD!”_ Rose roared.

“LET HIM GO AND BACK THE FUCK OFF, **_OR THE BITCH GETS IT!”_** Jack thundered, and to the Doctor’s shock, the warrior dropped him like a hot potato.

He hit the floor in a tangled lump of leather and limbs, surging to his feet in an instant- okay, NOW they were getting this plan back on track. Jack and Rose were nearly down the stairs, the hive was still in a state of chaos, and now he needed to play some politics to get them all out of here.

The warriors were keeping him a few strides away, a ring of them slowly massing from all sides save the queen’s- but they were still keeping their distance from Rose, Jack, and the princess.

He turned up to the queen and folded his arms.

“I want to talk.” He said defiantly, and the queen screeched in response.

“TALK?!” she thundered, using the mouths of all her Polyergus children to speak aloud on her behalf. He couldn’t hear her telepathic sendings anymore- this was probably the only way she could speak to him at all.

Not that the Doctor cared. 

“Yes. Talk. I want to talk. And I suggest you listen, because if you don’t-“

“HIVEBREAKING FILTH! YOU TORE OUR FAMILY APART! WHY SHOULD WE LISTEN TO YOU?! WHY SHOULD WE SPEAK WITH YOU?! RELEASE OUR DAUGHTER AT ONCE, OR ELSE WE’LL- WE’LL-

“Do me a favour and **_shut the fuck up,”_** the Doctor snapped, “We’re going to talk. You, me, right here, right now. Because I’ve got a few demands, and you’re going to follow them, and in exchange, I’m going to do you a favour that you really don’t deserve. You got that? So shut up.”

“Why should we listen, Ownthinker? You stole our family from us. You shattered the control tower, and now we’ve lost half our children. Because of you. BECAUSE OF YOU, WE’LL HAVE TO EAT OUR FAMILY-“

“You’re going to listen because if you don’t, your daughter and your species dies with you.” he growled.

The entire room went silent.

He knew what they were looking at. Jack with a pistol pressed up against the princess’s chitin. Which wasn’t what the Doctor meant by that deadly serious threat, but whatever. It did the job just fine, and gave Jack and Rose an opportunity to scoot the virgin queen into place behind him- just a few steps from his TARDIS.

“We are the last,” the queen hissed again, her dozens of mouthpieces chittering in unison, “We are the last, and you, Destroyer of Worlds, you would devour us, too? This hive is the last hive. We are the last family. My daughter is the last of her kind. You would order your human pet to slaughter the last virgin queen, to end our line and our kind on this dying world? It’s not your first time driving a species to extinction, is it, Time Lord?”

The Doctor clenched his jaw. That wasn’t what he’d meant at all.

“Nothing you have to offer is of interest to us, “ _Doctor_.” We want our daughter back. Now. We-“

“Shut up. You don’t even know what I’m offering. I’m offering you a chance- one chance- to save your species. One final chance. Listen to me and the Polyergus live. Ignore me and you die. All of you will die.” He snarled.

“How will we die, “Doctor”? How will you destroy us? You already threaten our daughter-“

“You’ll die because I know what you’re planning to do with her. You’ll make a few drones, marry her off to her own brother, and then make damn sure she spends a few weeks right next to you, soaking up all those telepathic teachings. Then send her off in that ship I stole for you with a handful of slaves. To go rape and pillage another world’s sapients, just like your mother did before you. I saw it in your collective mind. You’re going to ship her off to continue the cycle of destruction- and it’s not going to work the way you’re planning it.”

The queen gnashed her mandibles and opened them again, and the horde of Polyergus opened their mouths again-

“You know WHY you’re all going to die if you do that?” the Doctor snarled, unfolding his arms and jabbing a thumb at Rose and Jack. “Them. Humanity. Homo sapiens, of Sol Three. They’re waiting for your daughter, out there in the darkness. And they’re not alone.”

“Humans are food. Why should we fear humans?” The queen spat, and the Doctor folded his arms.

“Because they’re the reason you’re the last. Them and all their friends. You lucked out with this nice lush world off the main space routes, far from human power bases. But while you’ve all been busy eating this world’s forests and enslaving the Ophio to extinction, you’ve been too busy to notice something: all your favourite host species have been making friends with the human race. And all the other Polyergus worlds found out the hard way why that’s a problem.” The Doctor said with fury, and the Queen tilted her head slightly.

“Oh, yeah. The whole nine yards, too: intermarrying, hybrid children- it’s not done nice things to their own hiveminds, I tell you what, but you know what it has done? Insulated them from your talons. So you’ll ship your daughter off and she’ll land on one of their worlds, and every human hybrid in a thousand miles is going to laugh off her brainwashing and toss her right back into orbit. You send your daughter off to rape and pillage anew, and she’s going to get obliterated. And there goes your one chance to try again. It’s a big old universe out there, and there’s a lot of space and a lot of time for someone who hates you to track her back here and blow your planet off the starmaps. And they definitely will hate you if you keep trying to spread across space, enslaving sentients like a disease.” He spat, and the Queen’s antennae twitched.

Queen and brood went alarmingly silent, and the Doctor nodded once to himself.

“So if you want to live, I suggest you listen to my demands. One: You let every single person I’ve just freed walk onto that transmat pad, teleport onto that ship I stole for you, and you’ll let them leave. Every. Last. One. You got that? Let them all go right now, or else.”

The Polyergus hissed in fury.

“Demand number two. You let me, Rose, and Jack get on my ship and leave. Right here, right now. No chasing after us, no firing blasters, you all just step aside and let us leave.”

“And why should we do that?” the queen hissed, “You have murdered our children, Time Lord. They will starve because of what you’ve done. We have too large a brood for the scant family you’ve left us! No matter what happens with our daughter, we cannot afford to let them go!”

The Doctor swallowed and looked at the floor. He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath, looking the queen dead in the eyes.

“Tough. You got too big for your britches, you had nurseries full of eggs with barely enough slaves to care for them, and now you’ll pay the price. Time for a bit of downsizing, I reckon.”

There was a slight trembling in his voice, something that the queen picked up on instantly. Her antennae flicked.

“They’ll die, “ _Doctor.”_ Hundreds of our children will starve because we lack the family to feed ourselves. You would condemn another species to die? Like you condemned the Time Lords to die?” 

The Doctor paused before he replied, staring up at her and taking a deep breath.

“You’ve gone from a parasite to a pestilence. Your way of doing things is destructive and wrong, and it’s time for a change. And that’s why you’ll follow my demands to the letter, missy. To. The. Letter.”

“And why will we do that, Lonely One? Why will we obey you?” the queen spat. 

“If you do as I say, I’ll take your daughter away from here- and away from you. She’ll have a chance to grow into something different than your doomed way of life. I’ll take her back to your original homeworld and let her find a proper mate. And then, missy, what I’ll do is I’ll find your daughter a planet with a slave species that isn’t _fucking sapient._ I’ll find her a time and a place where mankind will never reach, and I’ll find her a world which she’ll be able to live without devouring everything. If you do as I say, I’ll give the Polyergus one final chance to try again and get it right this time.”

This was met with silence. When the queen spoke again, it was through a single voice- a single Polyergus behind him, her mother’s words echoing from her mouth.

“And what of us, _Doctor?_ What of these ones, of our hive? You would condemn us all to die?”

“You’ve got the algae and a few remaining brains to pick. Maybe you’ll figure it out. Maybe you won’t. That’s not my problem. So. Do you agree?”

Silence.

The princess locked eyes with her mother and produced a high-pitched shrieking noise, flailing away as though it hurt to stand anywhere near the Queen - and the Doctor could sympathize. Even without the collar, he could feel the telepathic pressure against his mental shields.

“Let. Her. Go.” He growled up at the queen, “Let her go, or the deal’s off. I’m not exporting another like you off to destroy some other world.”

The Queen spat a glob of green acid at him, which the Doctor nimbly sidestepped- that wasn’t really an offensive gesture, more a defiant one.

Still. A moment later, the chittering and screaming stopped, and the princess relaxed- to the Doctor’s immense relief.

He turned back to the queen and raised an eyebrow.

“So. What’ll it be? Your daughter’s chariot awaits.”

The Doctor stared defiantly up at the Queen.

She chittered, and hissed- and her antennae drooped.

The Polyergus wailed, then, a long, low sound of mourning- any warrior who was carrying a slave slowly put them down, and the penned groups that had been hemmed up against the walls started to uncurl from their terrified positions.

They were howling in anguish, a sound that the remaining slaves echoed- mournful wails that seemed to resonate from the queen herself, despite her lack of speech. Finally, she parted her great mandibles, and the daughter at her feet spoke on her mother’s behalf. One voice, one mouth.

“Take her. We will release them.”

Her voice was weary and tired and resigned, and the Polyergus warriors backed away from the freed slaves they’d been attempting to corral, giving them space.

“You will proceed to the transmat pad.” The warriors droned, “you will leave this place and never return.”

For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence.

Then the first sobs started.

Chasms opened up in the wall of Polyergus and their few remaining slaves- the Doctor winced at the sight of the red-eyed Ood shuffling shoulder-to-shoulder with a Cheetahman and a handful of others. Cracks in the throng, big enough for their victims to run through.

The touch telepaths took the hint when it was offered. First it was one, a Vex, staggering to their feet and stumbling towards freedom. Then two. Then four more. Then a wave, dozens of terrified people fleeing the mosh pit at the bottom of the chamber and running up the stairs towards freedom.

Some of them were screaming, but most of them were running as hard as they possibly could. Panic graced most of their faces, and the tears flowed without restraint. Or, well, whatever they had that would be the equivalent of tears.

The Doctor turned around and looked up at the Queen.

“That’s what your ‘Family’ thinks of you. They’re terrified.” The Doctor said with a snarl.

The Queen stared at him.

And stared.

Dozens of slaves ran for the exit in that time, the last few stragglers fleeing the chamber in a panic- and still the hive stayed silent. The Doctor watched them go, mentally ticking down in his mind- he needed to give them all enough time to get out.

Finally, he judged that it had probably been long enough- time to hold up his end of the bargain. But the Polyergus straightened a little- antennae sticking up, slaves standing taller, and the Doctor swallowed. 

He started turning to leave- and then they spoke.

And this time, the Doctor got the distinct impression it was the Hive talking- not just the Queen.

“We will let them go, Time Lord. And we will let you go with our daughter. But you… you tore our hive apart. You tore off one of our arms. _We want one of yours in return.”_

Their voices were low and furious, pain and rage and anger seething through every syllable. Every Polyergus in the room stared at him, and every slave snarled in whatever way they could. Tear off one of his arms- what did that-?

The Doctor mentally ran over all possible meanings of that sentence- before landing on the only one that made any sense. His hearts stopped- and started again at double-speed, slamming cold ice slush through his veins.

The few remaining slaves fell out of line, lurching towards the TARDIS- and more specifically, Rose and Jack.

“ROSE! JACK! GET INTO THE TARDIS!” he roared, and he didn’t need to ask twice.

His two humans turned and both grabbed one of the princess’s arms, yanking her as hard as they could towards the doors of the TARDIS. His ship threw them open as wide as possible- and he broke into a run, less than a dozen paces from safety.

“You’ll be alone forever, Time Lord. You took half of our family from us- so we’ll take half of yours in payment.” The hive whispered to him, dozens of voices echoing the seething sentiment.

The Doctor didn’t bother with witty replies, just ran full-tilt towards the TARDIS- his hearts stopped when a nearby Ood’s hand brushed the back of Jack’s shirt, but the canny conman jerked away hard enough that the alien lost their grip and toppled over.

The princess hit the open doors first and stumbled a few steps inside, Rose and Jack right behind her- and to the Doctor’s horror, she stopped dead in her tracks with a low wail, wriggling backwards and trying to squirm out of the TARDIS. She was well and truly jammed- and blocking the door for his lover and his friend, right when the wall of aliens was really surging towards them.

The princess was shrieking in protest as Rose frantically grabbed her gaster and gave her a none-too-gentle shove into the TARDIS. Even with the doors open as wide as possible, the princess barely fit, and she wasn’t complying at all, was trying to wriggle out BACKWARDS-

“ROSE! FORGET HER, JUST GET IN THERE!” the Doctor roared as he covered the last few paces, a soulless-looking black Ratagan lunging for Rose as she stood there- Maybe she could just, just- wriggle in beside-

Rose tried to shove by the queen to no avail- she was jammed in the doorway and was far to big and cumbersome to push past. The Princess let out a low, terrified wail, one matched by Rose’s shrieking as the coal-black Ratagan grabbed the front of her shirt-

“ROSE!” the Doctor howled in terror, and Jack spun from his position and whipped out his second blaster.

The shot hit the alien’s chest and sunk in deep, lightning crackling all over their skin as they crumpled to the floor in a heap. Jack spun around and elbowed an Ood in the face without a shred of mercy, driving it back and buying him another few seconds to grab the princess’s back leg and try to shove her in a bit further-

She shrieked again, a harsh sound like metal scraping on metal, and shoved back again, her legs scrabbling on grating and wood and dirt.

The horde of aliens was getting closer-

The Doctor crossed the last step and planted a hand on top of her gaster, dropping his shields as much as he dared. In that instant, the Princess lunged forwards instinctively- a childlike curiosity in her sendings instead of any actual malice. She tried to grab his mind and drag it towards her own, tried to hum to him, tried to pull him in- 

The Doctor responded with a firm telepathic smack, and then an image of her getting into the TARDIS and them flying away. An image of what she needed to do, what he needed her to do- information delivered at the speed of thought, a consensual transfer from one telepath to another through touch.

Her fear of the non-Euclidian box was only part of it- one of her legs had fallen through the grating and she was stuck and terrified of this horrible blue box and scared for her leg and thousands of other things, all running through her mind like a river. The Doctor felt all that fear, absorbed it, and latched onto her mind. Pull her leg straight up and out, he barked, and there was a shudder of compliance as she did exactly that. Flatten your feet out, he growled, and she did with a whimper, marching forwards and away from the scary Time Lord barking orders at her in his own terror.

To the Doctor’s immense relief, the princess managed to wriggle into the box without any further mishaps. There was a scraping as her soft wings dragged against the sides of the doors, and he pulled away, the connection instantly broken. The conversation had lasted less than a second- long enough for the slaves to regroup and lunge once again for his humans- 

Rose and Jack jumped in a second later, tumbling into a heap on the grating right behind her. The Doctor crossed the threshold in one mighty leap, boots slamming on the grating- and he turned and took one last look back at the howling Hive.

The TARDIS slammed the doors closed in the face of the screaming horde, and the Doctor lunged for the console, slamming buttons and flicking switches and slamming on the lever to pitch them out of time-

Outside the box, the raging red tide stepped back in shock as the TARDIS wheezed out of existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, I don't have access to a computer, and I also don't have a chapter written up, unfortunately. So, next week, there will not be an update, unless I can pull something out of my arse in the next few days. This being the climax, though, I'd rather not rush it. So see you in two week’s time! 
> 
> But since we're finally over the hump...Did you like it? Did you hate it? Leave a comment and let me know, because I spent a lot of time tweaking this thing to make it as good as possible.


	28. Formica moki

The TARDIS hit the vortex, and the Doctor hit the grating knees-first.

He slumped against the console with a low groan, letting his forehead rest against the cool coral. Exhaustion flowed through his muscles, his bones, every atom of his being- he needed to sleep, and he needed to sleep badly.

Rose’s perfume washed over him, her warm hands prominent even through the thick leather of his jacket. Rose. Precious Rose.

He staggered to his feet, leaning on her, letting her lead him towards the corridor- he’d warned them about this, about the sudden exhaustion after the disconnect.

After their little discussion in the zero room, he’d spent several days resting and recovering at Rose’s insistence. She’d tried and tried to talk him out of it, but now that she’d failed, well. He couldn’t say he wasn’t pleased with the end result.

“So that’s it, then?” Rose said softly, helping him walk- the Doctor just nodded.

“Yeah. I think…Yes.” He mumbled, reaching up to rub at his forehead. His head hurt- pounding like he’d caught way too much sun, the nausea floating up behind it.

The princess stood behind them in the corridor, Jack standing by her side and letting them go- her antennae flicked curiously, eyes locked on the time rotor. The Doctor snorted- if she was thinking about starting something with his ship, she certainly had another thing coming.

“Which room was it, again? You wanted us to put her somewhere, I-“ Rose’s voice was faltering a little- the stress of their mission was catching up with her. The Doctor couldn’t really blame her for that.

“Stasis room. It’ll hold her till I wake up and can look up their original homeworld.” The Doctor grunted, “Don’t ever go in there yourself, Rose, not without telling me first. You could be in there an aeon and it’d feel like a second.” The Doctor grunted. Rose nodded her understanding, and he smiled a little.

His mind ached to reach out and connect to her, but that wasn’t going to happen- her mind was like a steel wall to him at the moment, and she had to actively be focusing on it to allow the connection to occur. Better to just get some rest, and let Rose come to him when they were both feeling a little crisper.

Rose lead him down the hallway, where the TARDIS had helpfully moved the dark blue door to his room, which popped open to save her the trouble. Rose lead him inside, helping to support him by the door as he kicked off his boots.

He staggered away from her and threw his jacket vaguely at the coatrack, falling on the bed and curling up in a ball the minute he hit the sheets.

Rose grabbed his blanket and pulled it over him, smiling down fondly at this daft alien she loved. That had been a nightmare, in the hive; they’d come so close to losing everything, but somehow, someway, they’d pulled it off.

Rose kissed his temple, a spark of her thoughts and her love jumping into his mind and carrying him off to sleep.

* * *

_Big-glowy-green thing hums. Big-glowy-green thing has a mind. Big glowy green thing friend?_

_We reach out with our mind. We touch. Oh. Mind is gold! Mind is not green! Silly us._

_Be our friend, Gold-mind? Be our friend? We will sing together! We will be happy! We will-_

_OUCH!_

_Big Gold Mind seethes and is angry at us. Big Gold mind burns to touch. Big Gold Mind spits and hisses about her Thief, and how she stole him fair and square and he’s HERS and she HATES US and WE CAN’T HAVE HIM._

_Ouch..._

* * *

Rose walked back into the console room to the unusual sight of the Polyergus princess attempting to hide behind a coral column. She was making chittering noises that sounded downright pathetic, and brushing her head and antennae with several of her arms.

Considering that she was nearly as tall as the column and her wings stuck out a good ways, the hiding attempt was particularly ineffective.

Rose quirked an eyebrow.

“What’s she doing that for?”

Jack straightened up from where he’d been leaning on the railing, and shrugged. “No idea. She stared at the Time Rotor for a little bit, then squeaked like a rusty door hinge and went to try and hide herself. Best guess, she had a talk with the TARDIS and got told to go to her room.”

Rose snorted.

“Anyway, how’s the Doc?” Jack grinned, “I’m kinda floored that that stupid plan even worked as well as it did. He’s probably sound asleep, right?”

“Yeah, he passed out pretty much the second he crawled under the covers,” Rose said, “Anyway, he said we should take her to the stasis room while he sleeps a bit.”

“Sounds like a plan. I actually have a suggestion for something we could do after that,” Jack said, “I bet the Doc’s gonna be out for a few hours. Personally, I’d like it if we could get missy off and on her way as soon as possible, so we don’t have her running around the place trying to play Queen with our Lord, you feel?”

Rose nodded, walking across the grating and ducking under the railing to get a little closer to their giant princess.

“What’s that, then?”

“Simple. We get our little princess all tucked away, and then we go check the library for her original homeworld. Saves the Doc some work, and gets this Sword of Damocles off this ship.”

The TARDIS made a low whistling noise that sounded remarkably upbeat.

“…I think she agrees.” Rose said with a smile, patting the column the princess was hiding behind. She closed her eyes and pictured a room, and then the concept of stasis, and a question- the lights flickered twice, and the TARDIS hummed peaceably.

“Alright, I think she’s found the room for us. Come on, you!” Rose said, grabbing one of the princess’s hands and giving her a tug towards the grating.

* * *

The TARDIS had apparently been listening, because after a bit of begging and pulling to get the princess over the railing and onto the grating, she’d moved the library and the stasis room to opposite sides of the corridor by the console room.

Rose poked her head into the stasis room, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t some sci-fi column of light, no cloven pine- it looked like a regular storage closet with rows of shelves- the only difference was that every shelf was covered in perishable things. A worm, wiggling in a beer stein full of dirt. A steaming cup of tea that nobody had drank. A pint of raspberries that were just minutes away from molding over. A bouquet of flowers, all roses…

Jack shrugged and tugged the princess inside the room. She had to duck to enter the door as per usual, her eight legs clicking across the smooth tiles after him. She tapped her antennae on the shelves and some of the food, looking left and right at the small little cupboard she’d been stuffed in. There was just enough room for her to turn around without bruising her wings, but that was about it.

Jack slipped out and slammed the door behind him, grinning at Rose.

“Easy enough. Wanna hit the books?”

Rose grinned. “You know it!”

* * *

_Burning Gold Mind is all around us, but won’t speak anymore. We don’t like it._

_We also don’t like the two-legs. They are mindless shells. We reach out and touch them, but they are walled off. They are animals._

_They scare us._

_Two-legs are scary. Two legs walk and talk and tug us along, but don’t listen when they’re called. We follow in the hopes they will be kind._

_We will avoid Two-Legs-No-Minds, and so will our daughters._

* * *

The TARDIS had decided to help out and had stocked all the shelves nearest to the cozy reading area with books that were at least tangentially related to their query. Rose had spent nearly fifteen minutes picking out tomes to flick through, marvelling as per usual at the delicious smell. Every book in the TARDIS- and there were probably millions, the shelves stretched on and on in every direction- smelled nice but not musty, no matter how old. Probably some gift of time manipulation or somesuch.

Jack had already staked out the armchair next to the battered leather one that was the Doctor’s exclusive property- there were only a few rules on the TARDIS, and one of them was “Stay out of my chair.”

The coffee table was covered with books, their titles illuminated by the bright overhead lighting and the dancing flames in the nearby fireplace. Rose flopped on the couch, letting her cargo spill out across the cushions, and grabbed one at random to flick through it.

“So we want their home planet, right?” Rose asked as she skimmed over the table of contents. Oh, no, this wasn’t it. INSECTS OF VALUVIA PRIME, and none of them were sentient…or anything at all like an ant. She set the book aside.

“Yeah. Not too sure we need the temporal range, since we can bounce around till we find the right date, but knowing when they tend to breed would be good…” Jack muttered, flicking his eyes over the glossary and shaking his head.

They both sifted through their piles of books like that for a short time, until Rose’s fingers fell on a slim little volume with a strange title- THE TRAGEDY OF THE MONIZIANS.

She rolled her eyes and flicked it open to the table of contents, expecting some overwritten poetic sludge with no relevance to their current hunt.

That wasn’t what she got.

Rose’s eyes went wide, and she flicked to the first page and started to read. The book wasn’t very long- it was practically a pamphlet. Some other book had pulled it out of its place with friction and she’d been too lazy to put it back.

Rose’s eyes got wider and wider as she read through the entire little book, jerking her head up to look directly at Jack in terror.

“What? Found which world it is?” He said, sitting up from his slouch, “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost-“

“I know how they got out.” Rose blurted, looking back down at the book, “It’s here, in this book. They- they got off their homeworld, the first time. How they started enslaving sentients. It was an accident. A crew of Monizians-“

“Oh, fuck.” Jack muttered, reaching up to rub his temples, “I know that name. Tell me they didn’t land on a planet loaded with Polyergus. Tell me that’s not why they went extinct-“

Rose swallowed.

“They sent a science team to this planet…Dulosic?...and it…they landed in the autumn, according to the notes sent back to their homeworld. They were exploring, and…”

Rose looked at the floor.

“Let me guess.” Jack sighed, “A shipload of true telepaths bumped into a hive and see our adventures over the last few days?”

“No. Worse. They found a newly-mated Polyergus queen. And…well…They took her back to their homeworld.”

“And that’s how they got out.” Jack sighed, rubbing his temples. “Great. Does the Doctor know? Because based on that, his plan seems to be to seed a fresh planet with Polyergus and hope like hell that a repeat doesn’t happen.”

Rose swallowed, her heart sinking.

“I don’t know.” She said quietly, “We need to talk to him about it.”

Was this still a good idea?

* * *

Rose pushed open the door to the Doctor’s room, the TARDIS having summoned her a few minutes earlier. The ship was doing her best to make getting around as convenient as possible, it seemed- everything Rose needed was just a few steps from the console room, all down the same hallway.

It wasn’t going unappreciated.

She patted the wall fondly and thought her gratitude at the ship, prompting a flickering of lights and a tinkle of metal from the timeship.

She stepped into his bedroom, relieved that he’d been stable enough to conk out there instead of the Zero Room again. He was lying on his bed, curled up under the dark blue sheets- just where she’d left him.

Rose kicked her runners off and tucked them by the Doctor’s boots, striding across the delightfully plush carpet to the Doctor’s bedside. She lifted the covers and crawled under without any preamble- she’d done this enough over the past week that it wasn’t really an occasion anymore.

The Doctor was laying on his side, facing her with his eyes closed. Just for a moment, she took the opportunity to admire his face- with the lines smoothed out in the peace of sleep, he looked almost…innocent. Childlike.

Still alive. Still hale and hearty. His mind was his own.

She’d come so close to losing him, and yet here he was. The madman in a blue box who danced on a knife edge to save the innocent.

Rose reached out and cradled the side of his face, heart swelling with love for him.

Those blue eyes blinked open a few seconds later, blearily roving the room before falling on her.

He reached out for her wordlessly, a half-smile on his lips, and Rose nodded and reached out for his temple as he touched hers.

She closed her eyes and imagined throwing the door open again- after so much practice, it was easier now for her to maintain that imagining without getting exhausted.

The alien tendrils curled into her mind as they always did, brushing against her legs and jumping up to her waist like a dog begging to be petted. She smiled and stroked them, sending love and affection into the Doctor’s mind, just as she had before.

It was tainted, though, by the faint taste of doubt and fear.

That didn’t go unnoticed.

_Rose? Is something wrong?_

His mental voice floated through her head, something strangely rich and posh- she still hadn’t asked why he sounded like an aristocrat up there and a dockworker in person. And she probably never would.

There wasn’t really any way to phrase her feelings that she could think of, so Rose just bundled up her thoughts and emotions about the princess and dumped them on the tendrils- any thought, any touch, was good enough to heal, so long as it was gentle.

The Doctor took several moments to sort through them all, his mind-voice silent and the tendrils retreating slightly. Emotion and pure thought were a lot harder to parse cross-species.

Finally, he piped up again.

_So you found their planet…that’s excellent. But you also found how they got off it, and you’re worried about continuing the cycle…_

Yeah, that was about right. It wasn’t a good idea, from what she could see. They already had the princess, so there wasn’t a whole lot they could do- maybe take her back to her homeworld in the past and let her live out her life? Anything had to be better than letting them possibly enslave another planet…

_That’s possible, but…I don’t think it’s the right answer, either. If we do that, the Polyergus are extinct, forever. We’ve erased a species from the universe. I…I don’t want to do that, Rose. Please, please understand that I don’t want to do that._

That was fair enough. And after all the trouble they’d gone to rescue the virgin queen, it would be a tremendous waste to just let the Polyergus die out forever in a stupid time loop. Maybe there was another way? Someplace they could put her that would prevent that?

_The planet I was going to give the virgin queen will never be inhabited, but it’s still in a region of space with far too many people. And even if they do escape again and enslave another sentient species, it’s not going to end well for them- Like I said to the queen, the universe knows about them and their misdeeds. For everyone’s sake, I need to pick a new one that’s far more isolated…I can think of a few, but…_

But what? If there wasn’t a good candidate planet, maybe it was best for them to leave her in the past. Keep her and the universe at large safe. 

_I know, Rose. I know. But…this is their one chance. They have an opportunity to start again. And they don’t NEED to enslave sapient species- they just need telepathic ones that can care for them. Maybe this time, they’ll get lucky- and if I pick them the right planet, they’ll be able to live in harmony with their environment._

That was an awfully big “maybe”.

_What would you have me do? Condemn them to extinction? I have an idea, I think. I know a planet that ticks every box on the list. Far away from anything, in a region of largely empty space, nice and stable, has a temperate climate, and most of the large fauna is telepathic. Only problem is, it’s going to really stymie our picnic…_

Rose sent a wave of confusion, that had the Doctor chuckling verbally. Picnic?

_We’ll discuss it later with Jack, but I think I have an idea. I know where to take them, and there’s beacons that can be put in orbit to warn off passing ships. I could build one easily. There won’t be a plague of Polyergus on the universe, ever again._

How could he be certain of that? Time was always in flux, after all- he’d said it himself.

_Do you trust me, Rose?_

Unquestioningly. With her life, she trusted this man.

The Doctor projected into her mind a vision of the world he was thinking of. He showed her where in the universe it was, how isolated it was- a lonely star in a cloud of dust, a lonely world where no other intelligent life would ever tread.

Rose gasped.

The Doctor hummed in satisfaction, feeling Rose’s approval.

He pulled her close with his free arm, and a wave of love rolled off him that nearly swept her feet out from under her. His lips covered hers in a passionate kiss, and Rose melted, her eyelids fluttering.

 _I love you,_ she thought.

_Me too._

* * *

Jack sipped his scotch on the rocks and stared at the far wall with a sigh.

The TARDIS had a small pub onboard, he’d discovered to his delight. Not very big- just a bar and some stools and a dartboard, but it was more than enough for him to sit back and think when he needed to.

The barkeep was a clockwork robot in a t-shirt and an apron, with a nametag that read ‘Nelson’- Jack wasn’t going to complain about it, since Nelson was a pretty good barkeep who could mix a fair few drinks, and was always there to listen. Even if he wasn’t very good at talking back.

He twirled his forefinger across the bartop, staring into it. Rose had gone off to go do another telepathy session with the Doctor, the princess was tucked away, he had a drink, and all was as it should be.

Kind of.

The Doctor was an enigma, though. Those goddamn bugs had fucked his head up but good, and now he was offering them mercy? Going above and beyond the call of duty- finding their princess a mate and setting her up with a planet, even. If it was up to him, he’d have blasted her the second they were aboard the ship.

Well, actually, if it was up to him, they’d never have gone back. The Doctor was out, he was safe, and they should have just left it at that. But they didn’t. The Doctor didn’t.

And Jack couldn’t understand how he felt that he owed those people anything. That he owed the POLYERGUS anything. The only thing the Doctor owed those overgrown ants was an asteroid strike on their hive, that’s what they deserved for how they’d treated him.

Jack sipped his drink.

“Hey, Nelson. You think the Doc’s just crazy?”

Nelson whirred at him and tilted his head, then shook it a few times and went back to cleaning the counter.

Maybe Nelson was right. Jack looked down at his own hand.

The Doctor had watched him almost destroy the human race. He’d almost done that, himself, for a con. And yet here he was, aboard the TARDIS. Sipping at the Doctor’s whisky while a robot fetched him chips.

Forgiveness, then? But maybe not. Maybe it was a little deeper than that.

“Crazy old fucker,” Jack muttered, but it wasn’t what he was thinking.

The hero did the right thing, even when it wasn’t what was best for them. Even if they were justified in doing evil, the good guys didn’t take that low road. At least, the Doctor tried not to. Did he ever try not to. And it didn’t always work, and they had to struggle and sacrifice and break out of prison and all kinds of things- but he always tried. The crazy old fucker always tried.

Jack put his glass down and traced over the life line on his palm.

If the Doctor could forgive him…

Well, whatever. He didn’t have to agree with it entirely. And Rose had brought up a hell of a point- if the Polyergus had got off their homeworld once, what was to stop them doing it again?

...On the other hand, what was to stop _him_ from sneaking off and conning another bunch of saps out of a Chula warship?

Jack took a sip of his drink, the cold cubes slapping against his lips as he swigged the last of it down.

He got up and thanked Nelson, before ambling off to find the Doctor and Rose.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, they were in the console room together. Rose was pressed against the Doctor’s side, sitting on the jumpseat. Waiting for him.

“You two are adorable together, you know that?” Jack said with a grin, “Watching you makes me almost want to find someone to settle down with….almost.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes and Rose laughed, and Jack strode up to them and squeezed in beside the Doctor, resting his head on the Time Lord’s shoulder. The Doctor squawked in protest, Rose giggled even harder, and Jack just kept his shithead smirk cranked up to full power.

“So, what’s the consensus with the princess? Rose found the planet but had some objections to your plan, Doc. We still doing that?”

“Yeah, I think we are,” Rose said between fits of giggles, “the Doctor’s got a planet that should be just right for the princess. Seasons, non-sentient telepaths, far from anybody.”

“I’m also going to craft a beacon to put in orbit that should warn any passing ships that this planet is under quarantine. Should be enough.” The Doctor said with a nod. He prodded Jack with his elbow in an attempt to get his amorous shipmate off; Jack just smirked and snuggled in closer, prompting a fresh round of giggles from Rose.

After a few minutes of cackling, Rose finally managed to calm down enough to school her face into something approaching serious. Jack sat up, scooting away to let the Doctor have a bit of space- clearly Rose wanted to say something.

“But, uh. Well. We did agree on what we were gonna do with the princess. But, uh…you didn’t seem so sure about it, Jack. What do you think?”

Rose and the Doctor looked at him expectantly, and Jack took a deep breath.

He looked down at his palm again, eyes tracing his lifeline.

“…I’m not gonna pretend like I get it.” He said, “I’m not gonna pretend like I fully understand you charging back in there, Doc. I’m not gonna pretend like I know why we’re going above and beyond to save these people when they treated you like shit. But…I guess, sometimes, you gotta do the right thing, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense. So…”

He looked up, looking the Doctor dead in the eyes.

“I’m in on this one, just like everything else. Let’s get missy a boyfriend, and then let’s get her off this ship. And I’m helping you build that beacon, you got that? Maybe slap a few pulse-cannons on it, just to really get the message across.”

The Doctor’s face lit up, and he jumped to his feet. He offered both his humans a hand, pulling them both to their feet, and turned to face the console.

“Well, enough chatter, then! Job to do!” The Doctor grinned, lunging at the console and pitching them out of the vortex with a whoop of joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! Thanks so much for being patient with me. Only one more chapter to go now, the epilogue, and then I'm gonna take a nice little break. This chapter is going to be a bit rough, because instead of having a week to work on it like I expected, I ended up having only two days. Yeah. So I'm sorry about that, but hopefully you like it anyway. 
> 
> It's kind of exciting that I'm almost done- gosh, I don't even know what story to post next! I think I'll take a short break first, though. Anyway, epilogue next week! 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts down in the comments! I love hearing from you guys- your feedback keeps me motivated to stick to my schedule through thick and thin.


	29. Epilogue

The Doctor threw open the doors to the TARDIS and poked his head out.

“I think we’ve got the right era!” he called, before muttering “probably...” under his breath.

Ten million years before Rose’s birth, in the ‘goldilocks zone’ of a small yellow star. A small, unremarkable planet, drifting through the cosmos in a galaxy that Humanity would unoriginally name “Whirlpool.”

Around them was a landscape of foothills, rising and falling like waves frozen in time. Distant grey mountains loomed under an orange-red sky, and a giant second planet dominated the vista overhead even in the daytime. The plants looked like a cross between ferns and mushrooms, a strange yellow in their leaves- these plants covered the rolling grassland that stretched away before them in all directions.

Rose stepped out after him, looking behind them at the small bluff of scraggly “trees’- they looked a bit more like Saguaro cacti without spines, long frondlike leaves growing from the tops of each arm to soak up more light.

Strange birds tumbled overhead, and in the distance, they could hear a sound like hundreds of chainsaws buzzing at once.

“And I think the date's right, too.” The Doctor said with a fond smile.

“How can you be sure?” Rose said with concern, looking around and listening in the distance. The Doctor reached back into the TARDIS and tugged on the princess’s hand, pulling her out of the ship and into the daylight.

She rose to her full height the second she was outside, her wings buzzing a little in the morning air. Her antennae started to flick rapidly, and her entire body trembled- she spread her wings a little, head craned up to look at the sky.

The Doctor squeezed her hand a little, looking up into her eyes.

He reached out with his mind to touch hers, sending images of her returning to his ship after she found herself a mate. Sending images of a new world he would take her to, a safe place to rear her daughters and to try again.

The princess buzzed in affirmation, and dropped his hand. She scuttled a few paces away, spreading her wings. Buzzed them, once, twice, three times- and then they started flapping and didn’t stop.

Her rise into the air was so graceless as to be almost impossible- a clumsy leap with all eight of her legs, followed by a jerk as gravity pulled her down a few feet, before slowly and haltingly climbing back upwards- and flying higher and higher into the sky. A takeoff with a sound like a billion bees high on bath salts.

Distant blobs were coming closer, black smudges in the sky that roared like motorcycle engines and came into sharper relief as they approached. They looked like her, with dark red bodies and big wings, but smaller, more stumpy, more rounded. Their mandibles were soft and blunted, with only eight legs like all the workers- soft workers with all the corners filed off. 

The princess took off, flying a long, straight line, and the dozens of males swarmed up, giving chase. They surged forward and fell back, all clamouring to be the one to mate with the virgin female.

The Doctor smiled proudly.

One of the males looked like he was going to catch her- and as the Doctor watched, a timeline started to flicker, a nasty paradoxical knot sparking up before his eyes. He gaped in horror, his hearts hammering- that male wasn’t supposed to mate with a queen from the future, he was supposed to mate with a queen from this past-

And then another male, flying perpendicular to the main swarm, rammed into that lead drone at full steam and knocked him aside, pulling off an impressive pivot and landing on the princess’s back. The timelines snapped back into place, the loop stabilized- and the swarm of drones immediately dispersed.

The princess landed among the swaying fernshrooms a few minute’s walk away, her mate still clinging tenaciously to her back. The finding part was done on the wing, but the deed would be done firmly on the ground.

“So what happens to him, now?” Rose asked, gaze locked out across the rolling ferns to the dip in the land where the queen and the king were hidden from view.

“Him? Oh, nothing good. This is where he dies, not that he cares much. The drones aren’t all that bright, so it’s no great existential struggle for him. Anyway, his knob’s about to literally explode.“

“Hold on, _what?!”_ Jack protested, his eyes agog. He unthinkingly cupped both hands over his crotch. “His dick’s about to-“

There was a muffled BANG from over the ridge and a loud screech of pain from their queen.

“-And that’ll take out most of his organs, wreck her oviduct, and fill up her spermatheca with all the sperm she’ll ever need.” The Doctor finished with a satisfied nod.

“Wow. What…what a way to go.” Jack said, looking a little green around the gills.

“Um. Well. That. That was certainly…something.” Rose mumbled, turning to look at the Doctor with a slight expression of concern. “Just, uh, out of interest, most aliens don’t-?“

The Doctor snorted and shook his head. “No, Rose. Very, very few alien species do that kind of thing, only the eusocial ones where males aren’t really necessary for more than passing on their genes.” He shot her a wink, and Rose simultaneously relaxed and blushed.

“I’m gonna. Uh. Yeah. Anyway, I’m gonna go take a shot of whiskey. I’ll…see you in the console room.” Jack mumbled something to himself as he retreated into the safety of the TARDIS, shuddering a little as he went.

The queen ambled up over the hill the minute the door closed behind Jack. She buzzed her wings a few times, tilting her head at the Doctor and staring down at him.

Rose swallowed and looked between the Time Lord and the Polyergus Queen, at the staring contest they were having, and she reached out and grabbed his hand.

The Queen extended a hand, and the Doctor took it, setting his jaw firmly.

Both of them winced in unison, her antennae flicking in pain and his jaw clenching.

Finally the princess’s head drooped, and the Doctor let out a long breath, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead.

“There. Now are you done being silly?” the Doctor said sternly, “Enough of that. Let’s get you home.”

Rose held the door open, and helped pull the princess through.

The Polyergus queen turned back just before the doors swung closed, taking one last look at the polystyrene prison that was her ancestral homeworld.

* * *

The Doctor danced around the console, pulling levers and whacking buttons with his mallet, grinning from ear to ear as he and his ship moved in sync.

His three passengers held on for dear life, Rose and Jack laughing and the princess cheeping like a scared cricket as she hugged a coral column in desperation. They jolted and tumbled, spinning through the vortex- and it was frankly a beautiful sight to see.

Time Lords weren’t meant to live like moles, Rose mused. They were meant to roam all over time and space, freer than the birds could ever dream. And watching her Time Lord doing just that, well. It warmed her heart.

Even if the princess’s terrified cheeping was doing its level best to spoil the mood.

They landed with a mighty thud that jolted everyone into the floor, prompting a squawk from the princess and a groan from Jack. Rose picked herself up off the jumpseat and hopped over to the Doctor, pulling him close and planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Now what was that for?” the Doctor said with a grin, and Rose smiled.

“Dunno, just felt like it. So where are we now?”

“Well! That’s a bit of a surprise, isn’t it?” the Doctor said, clanking across the grating to pull Jack to his feet, “Rose, could you just run down the hall a little and grab the picnic basket by the galley door? I think you’ll like this…”

That wasn’t an answer, but Rose shrugged and ran the few steps into the hall it took to locate the picnic basket- the TARDIS was apparently in a hurry to get their cargo out of her. Rose could certainly sympathize, giving the wall a fond pat.

She trotted back, clattering across the grating to see the Doctor already leading the princess to the TARDIS doors- getting her bulky body to step over the railings was a bit of a struggle, as well as making sure her feet didn’t get caught in the grating again.

The Doctor smiled at Rose, pushing the door open and pulling the princess out into the bright springtime sunshine.

Rose followed him out a second later, blinking in the light- and gasping.

A giant sandstone rock loomed out of the ground before her, a river babbling not twenty paces from it with a soft sandy beach. On the other side of the river was a towering stone cliff from which hundreds of small birds were nesting, a vast cloud of them feeding on insects and chirping in unison with each new catch. All around them, tall yellow grass swayed, and Rose turned away from the river to look up a gently sloping hill on the other side.

“Welcome to Poverty Rock, Rose.” The Doctor said softly, “A world discovered by a destitute human trader, marked on a chart, and then forgotten about ‘till its sun blew it to smithereens. Nothing and nobody will ever touch this world…and also, it has seasons. Mild winters to let the grass grow back, hot summers in which the Polyergus can thrive. They won’t strip this place bare- the grass will grow back far faster than that. But most importantly-”

He put a hand up to shade his eyes from the bright golden sun high in the blue sky, squinting up at the sloping hillside. A faint rumbling cry could be heard in the distance, and the Doctor grabbed the princess’s hand and gave her a tug- then took off running.

Rose shrugged at Jack, then sprinted after them- the Doctor was laughing joyfully, bright and perky and excited, and Rose knew there was something good at the brow of the hill, had to be. The princess was doing her best to keep up, long legs scrabbling for purchase through the tall grass and over the colourful boulders shrouded in parched vines. Rose slung the basket over her shoulder and took off in hot pursuit, determined to not be left behind.

The hill was shallowly sloped but deceptively tall, and it took a few minutes of huffing and puffing and running to reach the brow of it. All around them, in all directions, stretched a great golden prairie with a dizzying variety of plants- patches of green and red with strange alien flowers broke the landscape here and there. Far in the distance, Rose could see the glittering blue waters of an ocean- like the land ended suddenly near this thin slice of life.

But between them and the ocean was a herd of animals that Rose had seen before. She gasped.

Dark brown with long spiderlike legs projecting out from their bodies, the great wooly monsters ambled about, grazing at the grass and grunting at each other. One of them scrambled up from a hole in the ground, clearly something it had dug itself- with a smaller one clinging to its back.

Jack trotted up behind them a second later, eyes wide at the sight of the strange herd of animals. Before he could ask, though, Rose piped up.

“What did you call them again?” Rose whispered, eyes wide. She remembered those creatures from the Doctor’s dream- but strangely, the singing that had permeated every animal on this planet was gone.

“Althuwr.” The Doctor said fondly, “At least, they’re pretty similar to an Althwr, so I call them Althuwr. They’re not TRUE Althuwr, but they look exactly the same. Doesn’t really matter, though.”

“Hold on a sec, the Doc’s told you about them before? When did that happen? I’ve never seen an Althuwr in my life, what-“

“I saw it,” Rose said softly, “in a dream.”

She sidled up to the Doctor and grabbed his free hand, lacing their fingertips together. Hoping and praying that some of the love and delight she was feeling would leak through to him.

Jack looked between the two of them, shaking his head and opting to just shrug it off.

“Alright, whatever. So, what do the spider-buffalo-gopher things have to do with missy here?” Jack wondered aloud, and the Doctor released the princess’s hand.

All three watched as she immediately walked straight towards the wooly herd, back tall and head held high. Her wings fluttered delicately, as though held on only loosely, and she strode proudly towards them.

A few Althuwr glanced up from their grazing, grunting in alarm- the little ones immediately shuffled into the middle of the herd, as the larger ones moved to the outside in a defensive ring. Fanglike tusks slid out of the adult’s mouths, as they grunted and roared at the queen.

She was undeterred, and simply kept up her slow, unhurried pace, step after step towards them.

A few paces away, the queen hummed a single note. Verbally hummed- spread her wings as wide as they’d go, singing to them sweetly and calmly. And bizarrely, it worked. The frontmost Althuwr visibly relaxed, lowering its body on its long legs and retracting its foretusks. It stared at the queen, lifting one of its forelegs- on the end of which was a simple hand with sharp claws for digging.

The Queen took a few more steps forwards as the other Althuwr relaxed too, taking the hand of the one in front and humming, lovingly, sweetly.

The herd gathered around her, even the small ones- and she stopped humming, at least audibly. The Doctor smiled even wider, closing his eyes and listening to the telepathic song as the queen taught her new subjects the melody she wanted them to sing with her.

Several of the adults speared off and started digging into the ground, some trundling down the hole that already existed and others starting on the surface to dig away at that too. Others swarmed around the queen, grabbing at her wings and pulling- she didn’t even flinch as they pulled cleanly off.

All six wings lay in a heap on the ground, utterly ignored, as the princess followed one of the Althuwr down their tunnel- vanishing from sight.

“…Wow.” Rose said, “That…wow.”

“Yeah. I was not expecting it to be that easy…” Jack said with a few astonished blinks.

The Doctor shrugged.

“They’re just animals, the Althuwr. It’s always easier to make a telepathic animal do what you want versus a sentient being. Always. All that’s left for us to do now is put that beacon in orbit, but that can wait a little bit.”

The Doctor turned back to Rose, taking her hand and leading her back down the hill towards the giant sandstone rock.

“I believe I promised you both a picnic!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. 
> 
> Well, that was a rollercoaster and a half. Thank you, HUGE thank you, to everyone who followed this fic from the beginning, or anyone who only jumped on last week! I'm just chuffed to bits that you're all here reading my silly brain-bilge, and it really drove me to want to make this as good as I possibly could. So thank you. 
> 
> I'm super proud to have cranked out another behemoth, even if Polyergus was only ever intended to be seven chapters long (!!!)
> 
> All your comments were a huge help in making me stick to my schedule through thick and thin, through cross-country relocation and a stupid pandemic and whatever else. Plus, writing and releasing to a consistent deadline helped me keep track of time in quarantine, so hopefully it was helpful for you, too! 
> 
> I'm gonna take a break of a week or so, I think. There's other stories I want to tell, but I'm rather tired and I'd like a rest. But there will be more to come soon! Ish. 
> 
> Finally, keep checking back- Polyhymnia is working on some fanart for this story, and when it's finished I'll be posting a link to it right here at the very end, where this very sentence is located. I've seen a WIP, it's already great. You should take a look! 
> 
> So, from the bottom of my heart, thanks so much to all of you, and I hope you enjoyed the ride. Next story will be a shitload sillier, I promise. Well...next story with Nine and Rose and Jack....


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